When I work with congregations experiencing conflict the Matthew 18 reading is one of the primary lessons we reflect on. Everyone acknowledges both the importance of forgiveness and the challenges of forgiving. One of the key aspects of forgiveness that needs to be upheld is accountability. It is one thing to love as God asks… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: Late Breaking New(s) Edition
So much on my mind these days. So very much. If one lives in the USA, one is probably overwhelmed by the constant “BREAKING NEWS” – always on the brink of disaster and in a heightened state of anxiety. It takes everything I have to stay focused, to aim for calm, thoughtful, leadership. Our… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: Choices, choices, choices
The other night I invited some friends over for dinner. I planned a menu that included several dishes that I was just making up in my own head, no recipes. But because we all like different things, some like shrimp for example, and some don’t, I made a variety. We each had a little of… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: Struggle and Hope
Where I am, it is hot as the dickens. Even the squirrels are finding refuge in the shade and moving as little as possible. I love summer. I yearn for it all year. I don’t even mind the heat. But this year everything feels off. There is so much violence in the world and appropriate… Read More
11th Hour Preacher’s Party: the, “I have no idea,” edition…
Okay. I admit it. Although I am preaching on Sunday, this week has been so busy, I mean SO BUSY, that I have no idea what the readings are. It’s not my intention to be so squirrelly….some weeks are just like that. It’s also true, however, that I am in week five of a… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: Easter
Every Easter I find myself preaching about the women. They stayed with Jesus through it all, from anointing him before his death, praying with him in the garden, walking the way of the cross, praying with him as he died, caring for his broken body, and even the next day, going to the tomb to… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: Courage, speaking one’s mind by telling all one’s heart…
This Sunday, the woman at the well, is perhaps my most favorite text to preach on, from. This complex, complicated, long misunderstood text has come most alive for me as I have found commentators and exegesis and midrash like reflections that break it open in less than “traditional” ways. (Don’t get me started on the… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: Holy God, Holy People
It’s not every year that we have a long season after the Epiphany and have the opportunity to preach from the words of Leviticus. Oh Leviticus, so complicated, so misused. I remember one of my classes in seminary divided the class into five groups, each one assigned a book from the Pentateuch. My group got… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: Spiritual Hunger
Well. It’s done. In the United States, now with this new President, we’ve entered a place we haven’t been in before, or at least not for a awhile. Many of us are wondering, where do we go from here? The readings this morning from the RCL call up questions about direction, where one is going,… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: a rose by another name
Last summer I purchase three rose bushes on clearance, $5 each, and planted them in my backyard. They were very scraggly and I wasn’t sure they’d survive. I was delighted when a few weeks later they not only showed signs of life but began to bloom. This third week of Advent is sometimes known as… Read More
