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
Narrative Lectionary: Mystery Gifts (Acts 3:1-10)
At the big intersection near my home, four gentlemen have divided up the corners. In their system, each of them asks for money on only one corner. Three of the four work their corners most days, but even when someone is missing for a day, no one takes over his corner. Each man works 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
Friday Festival
Remembering her own mountaintop journeys prompts Martha Spong to reflect on the mystery of the Transfiguration. She poses an interesting question about what the disciples – and we – perceive. “In this era of propaganda and marketing, social media and political campaigns, our perceptions are being messed with all the time. What are we noticing? Has truth changed? How… Read More
Wednesday Prayer
February, God. February. February teaches us – yet again – your surprises. The shortest month feels like the longest, shaming us when the Christmas box is still out, while we plan for Lent. The shortest month feels like the longest, God, testing our hope, in this in-between time. We would shorten the strange weather, and… Read More
Wednesday Prayer
Healer of all, around the globe, so many of our siblings are sick, lying in hospitals, or coughing at home, waiting for symptoms to develop or to ease working through an ache in body or spirit, living with pain that won’t quit its harassment. Come, we ask, with your healing might, easing the aching of… Read More
Friday Festival: A last visit
Reading through the blogs in our RevGalBlogPals community is like visiting with friends. This week, we take a ride with Kim at Sandpiper’s Thoughts and adjust our Expectations. I was riding the elevator this afternoon. There are expectations about elevator protocol, aren’t there? Are you like me, and I suspect like many other people, who… Read More
Narrative Lectionary: Pigs and Prejudice (Mark 5:1-20)
Having a favorite Bible passage is as ill-advised as having a favorite child, but if I did have a favorite, this intriguing story would be a strong contender. It has everything: conflict, healing, payback, revelation, and even traveling pigs. Read the scripture here. Read the Working Preacher commentary. The story unfolds like a movie, with… Read More
Friday Festival: The Other Side of Christmas
Like every other pastor, I struggle with the Christmas Eve sermon. Having spent the year with church members standing by a graveside, or sitting in a claustrophobic hospital consult room, or handing out tissues when there are no words, I wonder what to say when I look into their eyes on Christmas Eve. The good… Read More
Narrative Lectionary: Never Assume [Luke 1:5-13, [14-25] 57-80]
The story of the birth of John the Baptist is the story of the ordinary turned upside down, and made extraordinary. Every common assumption is reversed, through the power of God. Everyone in the story is wrong about what they expect to happen. God is in the reversal business all through Advent and Christmas, changing… Read More
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