Here we are at our last Sunday before the Liturgical Year begins again. Will you do Christ the King or Reign of Christ? This is one of the years that US Thanksgiving comes between this week and Advent 1. Will you be thinking about gratitude? I spoke Monday to a women’s group about Gratitude in… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: Change and Legacy
This week many Protestant congregations celebrate Reformation Sunday. For my congregation, I think it’s third only after Christmas Eve and Easter. It’s important enough that we have planned a 2-week experiment in gathering outside just in time for Reformation Sunday (and rain is forecast for the first time in months for exactly and only that… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: Laboring in the Vineyard
As September continues, we may feel like we’ve been laboring a long time in the Vineyard. I preached this text 3 years ago for my congregation and the Committee on Preparation for Ministry. I preached “The Parable of the Generous Landowner” or “The Parable of Radical Equality.” They passed it, but the all older male… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: Back to School Edition
While it might not be back to school for anyone else, as for me and my household it surely is. I think teachers and preachers (and I’m sure many others) are sharing many of the lessons of our new way of being (even in places where people are carefully returning). So what can we learn… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: Sowing Seeds on Sunday
Welcome back to the sermon party. This summer seems to be flying by. Pentecost was 7 weeks ago?!? So here we are in the midst of Ordinary Time. Are you sowing seeds with the sower (Matthew 13)? Traveling with Jacob (Genesis 28)? Reminding folks that no matter where we are, God is there (Psalm 139)?… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: Changing Seasons
This week the solstice occurs. Whether you are moving into Summer or Winter, what does the change in seasons mean this year? In the Liturgical calendar we have moved into the long green season of Ordinary Time (12th Ordinary, Proper 7, 3rd Sunday after Pentecost). As we continue to record services in my Southern California… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: Love Is Love Is Love
The photo is my favorite insulated portable tea mug. It reminds me of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony award acceptance speech right after the Orlando massacre. “Love is love is love is love.” Whether you are in the RCL or the Narrative lectionary, there is lots of love talk this week. In the RCL gospel Jesus promises… Read More
Friday Festival
I didn’t start curating the Friday Festival until after the Quarantines began, so I don’t really know if people are writing more, but I do know they are writing a lot. A lot of the writing is about connections. The table in the photo is one of our connections with our community. It has become… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: Who Relates to Thomas Now?
Are you writing, huddled in your house, like the disciples in the Revised Common Lectionary (Discussion Here)? Are you waiting to see what happens next as Jesus ascends in the Narrative lectionary (Discussion Here)? Are you using a series or other passages to see you through these different times? Are you preparing technology for a… Read More
Friday Festival
People are writing a lot, I think. Some folks always write and others are renewing or beginning a practice in this time of distancing, of staying in and working at our computers. So I ask, what’s saving your life this week? For me, it may be my kids playing games (mostly monopoly) together. What’s saving… Read More
