Category Archives: story

Everything comes with a side of guns

Posted on August 21, 2019 by

I did not have the time to wonder deeply why a construction company, expert in damp recovery and replastering, thought that an active shooter drill would be right up their alley (nor why we would call them first in the unfortunate event). I did not have the wherewithal in that Thursday moment to explain my theological aversion to drilling fear into our worship, or the stubborn resistance to the inevitably of guns everywhere that stems from the sanctuary of my foolish faith. Continue reading →

Posted in current events, Gun control, gun safety, story | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Go back home

Posted on July 22, 2019 by

On my better days, I might take the time to explain that it would be more appropriate not to choose any person’s story for them, assuming a whole lot about their history,  their identity, their family, their future. Continue reading →

Posted in current events, story | Tagged | 1 Comment

Stronghold

Posted on June 29, 2019 by

On a mountain of modest height, rendered in verse for its appetite for irony and steadfastness, they found the man, the poets say, guarding his skeleton where it lay. The way to the summit is strewn with the rubble of … Continue reading →

Posted in poetry, prayer, story | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Beating Guns

Posted on April 29, 2019 by

I wrote this morning at the RevGalBlogPals site about my Holy Week encounter with Shane Claiborne’ and Michael Martin’s #BeatingGuns tour. God Before Guns co-hosted the event with Pilgrim UCC in Tremont, Cleveland. Read more about it at RevGals; see … Continue reading →

Posted in story | 3 Comments

Why have we come here? Good Friday 2019

Posted on April 19, 2019 by

We come not to glory in his death, but out of fear of our own; and not only, nor even the death of our bodies, may they never endure such pain as his; but the death of our souls, the diminishing returns of our humanity, the erosion of love and the weary wearing away of compassion. On the cross, we see the destitution of our humanity, what it has come to, that we would sacrifice Christ to keep an unquiet peace, and pile on the death of God to weight the scales of injustice. We see where it could all end up, if we would prefer instruments of death to a way of life that makes us vulnerable to the demands of love and of mercy. Continue reading →

Posted in Holy Days, homily, sermon, story | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Palms and Passion: If these were silent

Posted on April 14, 2019 by

Holy Week sets a high bar for the followers of Christ. It asks whether we are willing to cry louder than the forces of sin and death, or whether we will rely on the stones, the cross, and the carillon to do it for us. Continue reading →

Posted in story | Leave a comment

Citizens of heaven

Posted on March 17, 2019 by

Our citizenship is in heaven, declare the confident and the confused, the helpless and the hopeful, in every language invented under the Word of God; and the kingdom of heaven is at hand, says Jesus, where love is unwavering and indiscriminate; where death is defeated by the stubborn and resilient love of God, and the hope of heaven. Continue reading →

Posted in current events, sermon, story | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment