So many texts to choose from this week! Even more if you observe Reformation Sunday. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what holds all the texts together. This week I see a very clear thread of humility. In one way or another each of these texts reminds us that God is God and we are not.… Read More
RCL: Trusting God’s Promises (for real)
I don’t know about you, but I’m having some difficulty staying focused. There’s the Sunday School plans, the stewardship campaign, the funeral services, the special worship services, the Bible studies, and don’t forget Advent will soon be upon us. And have you completed your review of the draft budget? Oh, and what about sabbatical planning… Read More
Friday Festival
In the past few weeks and months I have spent many hours, praying and meditating on call: my call, my sense of something new coming… just round the corner. Still intangible, undefined, ineffable (I love that word, and its use in Good Omens made me laugh out loud) – this call I have responded to… Read More
RCL: Must be Thomas
It’s the first Sunday after Easter, so it must be time for Thomas. Of course, there are other options if Thomas doesn’t have appeal for you. There’s Peter defending his right, and the rights of the other apostles to preach Jesus. There are the Psalms full of praise and thanksgiving. There’s the Alpha and Omega… Read More
RCL: Behavior Modification Edition
Do you ever get discouraged by human behavior? I do, often. I sometimes find even my own behavior disheartening. We know what is right and good, yet we persist in doing things that are harmful to ourselves, to our neighbors, or to the planet. The other day, after reading a particularly horrid news article, I… Read More
Friday Festival: A Change Is Gonna Come
“It’s been a long, long, long time coming but I know: change gonna come.” If you need a song today — for hope or for comfort, for resisting or lamenting, for holding on or for letting go — I recommend letting Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” wash over you. Maybe it’s the changing… Read More
Friday Five – the Times they are a Changing
The Times They Are a Changing This is the season of change; our Facebook feeds are full of pictures from first days at school; and news of exam success and college places for our teens. In our churches the summer season is ending and minds turn to autumn and all the things that will start… Read More
Friday Prayer: Pray It Forward
In two weeks’ time, we will read of an unmarried couple, whispered about in their community, seeking to fulfill the demands of the law. The place where they are legally required to file paperwork is full of outsiders. Even though there are many related to them by blood, faith, or other ties, they end up… Read More
