How are you positioning yourself between people experiencing oppression and those calling for and actively engaging in their subjugation? How are you reflecting and affirming the sacred beauty present in those experiencing marginalization?
I ask these questions because I think it’s necessary for us to consider how we are physically, materially, and politically oriented as ministers of the Gospel of Jesus. Read More
Sunday Prayer: Melted
What the hell do any of us know, O Eternal Mystery? While we worship constancy and might, mountains melt and remold like wax. While we sing hymns in echoing caverns, the Spirit waits upon those in prison. While we pray to love our enemies, the Church itself nurtures violence. While we thirst for truth and… Read More
Saturday Prayer – Cause and Effect
I tossed a pebbleand watched as the ripple grew into a wave that surged and crested. I was already up past my knees before I knew to call it a flood. Living Water, today my prayer is only keep me afloat. Amen. Jennifer Garrison Brownell serves as pastor at Vancouver United Church of Christ… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party—onward and upward
I’m not sure where May went, but it’s the beginning of June, everyone! And this Sunday might be, for some, Ascension Sunday…or for others, the 7th Sunday of Easter…or for others, perhaps the beginning of a summer/winter series, or a wrap-up on other events (we are one week past General Assembly, for instance, or for… Read More
Friday Festival: Why aren’t you writing?
RevGalBlogPals began as a webring, a connected group of bloggers with the shared interest of being or supporting women in ordained ministry. In those pre-Facebook days, we kept up with each other by navigating from one blog to another, carrying on conversations in the comments that sometimes migrated from one person’s page to another. All… Read More
Tuesday Prayer
Spirit if God who hovered over the earth at the dawn of creation- Our environment is standing up to us. Python-like teeth of tornadoes are ripping into buildings. Waters keep rising as floods steal lands, massacre plant life, and leave our neighbors without homes. And yet, we keep living as if we make no impact.… Read More
Narrative Lectionary: Romans 6:1-14
How are you doing, halfway through Romans? I find it really challenging to preach this book, but nevertheless, we persist. Commentary at Working Preacher is here. Our passage this week drops into the middle of one of Paul’s arguments. It may be worth looking back to chapter 5, where it begins. In 5:20, Paul writes,… Read More
The Pastoral is Political: Our Transgender Children
“Sasha” (not her real name) has just finished the third grade. She began her school year with the name given her at birth, a name reflecting that she was originally gender identified as “male.” By the end of the year, she had chosen a new name, and we were referring to her by her preferred… Read More
Sunday Prayer: Unfolding
Holy One, We watch things unfold, day by day, sometimes hour by hour, never really knowing why or when there will be a turn of events or changes in our plans. Unfolding, slowly, gently, melding, You help us in synchronicity with Your Grace. Sometimes we won’t listen. Sometimes we bolt the other way. Always, always,… Read More
Friday Festival – Wrestling With Prayer
During Lent, I held a luncheon series on Ways to Pray. We explored verbal prayer, writing prayer, movement prayer, praying through art, and praying through singing. Through these experiences, all of us saw our communication with God expand – nudging each of us to open ourselves to the variety of ways we are called to… Read More
