Tag Archives: All Saints

All Saints: life unbounded

I was away all last week at a “Writing Pastors” conference. It was great. It did not leave a whole lot of time for sermon writing, but this is the gist of what was said this morning… There was some … Continue reading

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All Saints 2014

Jesus clearly didn’t have the best agent. If he had titled his sermon on the mount, “How to live your best blessed life right now,” he could have gathered forty thousand on the hillside instead of four thousand. He could … Continue reading

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Praying alone

The writing was on the wall outside: the service ended hours ago; the people gone to their Sunday dinners, families, fire sides. The church empty, gaping open, sat stone cold and silent as the grave, its pews petrified, unforgiving, its … Continue reading

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All Hallows Eve

Reaching through the darkness in the long, dark night, a soul might lose it way, fall away, if not for the light, beckoning. All in white they stand before the throne of light, shining through the hollow pumpkins, porchlights, tealights, singing softened … Continue reading

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Year B: All Saints

I want to talk today about baptism, and our participation in our baptismal covenant. Baptism is and has always been an important stage in the Christian journey: it was one of the two sacraments commanded and enacted by Jesus himself, … Continue reading

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Hallowe’en

The day before, the bones scatter on the valley floor, helped by the clean-up vulture crew, laid out to dry in the sun. There is a photograph hanging of the witch of Endor, grotesque in its details, she is all … Continue reading

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Saints and other stories

Is anyone using the lectionary for Pentecost 27 this Sunday? Everywhere I look, we are celebrating All Saints (which is meet and proper). Still, I thought that this Sunday’s readings deserved some prayerful attention, and found in the epistle for … Continue reading

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Usual saints

“Sometimes, I wish I had a cool saint story. Something like Christopher, who carried the Christ child without knowing it, and nearly got crushed, drowned and dead for his trouble. Or George, killing the dragon and getting the girl (did … Continue reading

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