Those of us preaching the Narrative Lectionary get to hang out with the prophets for a few weeks. We’ve already encountered Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, and the “how not to be a prophet” story of Jonah. This week we come to Isaiah, whose prophetic voice echoes in much of Jesus’ teachings about the Kingdom of God.… Read More
RCL: God Calling
My call story involves an Amy Grant song and Route 128 in Massachusetts. I was already enrolled in a graduate program in Pastoral Ministry. I had been thinking of it as a useful prelude to what I thought I wanted to do: study Jungian psychotherapy. Then, one fall day I found myself driving to the… Read More
Narrative Lectionary: Messy Feelings
The first time I ran across Isaiah 42 verse 1 was when I was preparing my mother’s homegoing service in November of 2002. The words, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights,” brought me some comfort and a bit of peace at the time. This morning, the more… Read More
The Pastoral is Political: Sneaky Ninja Jedi Pastor
Although I know many young women who are pastors, lets be honest, that is my world, the perception is that these pastors are few and far between. When I was in seminary, 8 years ago, there were more female students than male. My mother was a pastor. Its not unusual for me to see pastors… Read More
Revised Common Lectionary: Fishy Edition
Oh, Jonah. That poor prophet who achieved exactly the result he was called upon to do, and felt betrayed to the point of wanting to die because of it. Though, of course, we don’t get the whole story in today’s pericope. Today we just hear God’s call to Jonah (the second time, after all that… Read More