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Category Archives: sermon preparation
To move mountains
When she was old and fading –
her gray hair paling,
her skin thinning and softening –
my grandmother painted watercolours. Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, sermon preparation, story
Tagged Bob Ross, dementia, faith, imagination, Luke 17:5, mustard seed, Year C Proper 22
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Fridays are for mortality
The choice of incarnation, an island carved out of immortality, implies that God is not immune to hard weeks. Continue reading
Posted in prayer, sermon preparation
Tagged birdsong, death, grief, immortality, Trinity Sunday
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The stones would shout
If these walls could speak, they would sing of the sun’s light seeping into sandstone, warming the night when Love comes calling … Continue reading
Posted in holy days, lectionary reflection, poetry, prayer, sermon preparation
Tagged Palm Sunday
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Refreshment Sunday: Going over Jordan
For Christians, when God says, “I have rolled away your disgrace,” can it help but bring to mind the rolling away of the stone from the tomb that is to come in a few short weeks, the hope beyond Good Friday? Continue reading
Posted in sermon, sermon preparation
Tagged Jordan River, Joshua, Laetare Sunday, Lent, Refreshment Sunday
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A baptism
In Galilee, a root gripped my foot,
the tree of life inverted, submerged … Continue reading
Conjuring Esther
Esther has become difficult to read. Her story makes me angry and afraid. We read it like a fairytale. But like so many fairytales, it teems with themes of horror dressed up in satin and silk. Continue reading
Posted in current events, lectionary reflection, sermon preparation, story
Tagged #ChurchToo, #metoo, Esther, sex trafficking
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The madness of Christ Jesus
The Wisdom of God is, as has been well-documented, foolishness to the wise philosopher. Utter foolishness. Continue reading
One/three/seven billion
It matters that we know a God who will not allow for isolation, or desolation, who does not disown God’s children, but who sets out time and again, through the prophets, through the wilderness, through the sacraments, through the Spirit to remind us that we are not only created in God’s image, but that God has committed Godself to us, irrevocably, unbreakably. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, lectionary reflection, prayer, sermon preparation
Tagged Trinity
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Love/hate/relationship
“Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen,” warns the letter writer, and if we are in any way human, our heart sinks. We know whereof we are guilty. Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon, sermon preparation
Tagged 1 John 4, abide, family, hate, James Cone, John 15:1-8, love, Year B Easter 5
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over the water 