Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg has been called “the Twitter rabbi” (@TheRaDR), and I confess, that’s where and how I got to “know” her. I started following her for hot takes on religion, politics, and ethics; within a few weeks I was enthralled by her threads of scriptural exegesis and began “saving” them for future reference (aka,… Read More
RevGalBookPals: No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler
Kate Bowler has written a psalm to human finitude. Her recent release, No Cure for Being Human (and Other Truths I Need to Hear) functions as a companion to her bestselling memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved). Bowler, an associate professor of the History of Christianity in North America at… Read More
RevGalBookPals: Living Brave by Shannon Dingle
Content warning: Child sexual abuse, sex trafficking, traumatic loss. In her introduction to Living Brave: Lessons From Hurt, Lighting the Way to Hope, Shannon Dingle tells her readers, This is not the book I intended to write. Dingle had completed a first draft of a book about surviving and naming the truth of a childhood… Read More
RevGalBookPals: Contemplative Knitting by Julie Cicora
Needlework of all kinds didn’t exactly skip a generation in my family… it’s more like, it skipped one sibling. Of the four Reilly sisters, only my mother was completely unable and/ or unwilling to learn the gentle arts of sewing, knitting, crocheting, etc. But Mom allowed as it would be good for me to know… Read More
Revised Common Lectionary: The Beauty and Peril of the Tribe
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a tribe is “a social group comprising numerous families, clans, or generations together with slaves, dependents, or adopted strangers.” According to my entirely unscientific and utterly subjective recall: I first encountered the word “tribe” in the context of after-school TV reruns of wild West shows from the 50’s and 60’s.… Read More
Revised Common Lectionary: Unexpected Points of Connection
On this Sunday in which the northern hemisphere is in deep summer, images of new life and growth show up in our lectionary offerings. In our journey through Genesis, Jacob is on a road trip, fleeing the furious twin from whom he finagled a birthright and stole a blessing. With a stone for a pillow,… Read More
RCL: Without Ever Knowing the Way
The Revised Common Lectionary year A offers the opportunity to sojourn with the family saga that makes up most of the book of Genesis. Sadly, the first entry in the saga is not in use this year (Ordinary 10A), in which Abram and Sarai receive their call from God to get up and go. By… Read More
RCL: Love, Orphans, Comfort
This post might as well begin with a true confession: I’ve had a conflict-laden relationship with gospel according to John, and the long passage known as the “Farewell Discourse” of Jesus (chapters 14 through 17) hasn’t helped much. I made an uneasy peace years back, and my affection for the outlier of the four gospels… Read More
RCL: The Road Home
The gospel of Luke continues the story of Easter Sunday with a resurrection appearance unique to this gospel. Following the events of early morning that first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples decide to go home. I wonder why? Is it just because this was their plan all along—to go home after the… Read More
Revised Common Lectionary: Come to the Water
I love this passage (John 4:5-42) so much, it is hard to approach it with anything resembling even-handedness. The story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well was the appointed gospel lesson for my first-ever preaching experience (Lent 3A, 1990). And thanks to the chaplain who craftily invited me to give a homily… Read More
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