It’s Friday in the post-Easter lull, which doesn’t mean the week wasn’t busy but only that we pastors may be living lull-ishly regardless. Some of the blog posts I’ll share are current and perhaps pertinent for this Sunday, while the others speak to last week and ideas we may want to bookmark for next year.… Read More
Saturday Prayer – Between
Here we are, Lord, slung between death and resurrection. Suspended in the moment between the blank page and the final word the desperate argument and the forgiving embrace the pink slip and the new offer the last tear and the first smile the diagnosis and the treatment plan the caught breath and the exhale. Here… Read More
Friday Prayer
O Holy One, as Creation holds its breath, we wait we ponder we search our souls. we doubt we step back in fear we fail you. grant us peace give us hope clear our minds as we listen for that first whisper from the tomb, as we watch for that first glimmer of resurrection light.… Read More
Maundy Thursday Prayer: Remember
“Do this to remember me…” However we do this with a loaf, wafers, cubes of bread… However we do the doing in vestments our Sunday best barefoot or high-heeled Dear God, help us to remember not the to-do list or the thing we forgot to write on the to-do list or who is doing what… Read More
Revised Common Lectionary: I have seen the Lord!
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! But not quite yet. For church professionals, we first have to endure the hard and holy week leading up to Easter. We live out the mental, emotional, and spiritual drama in real time. On Maundy Thursday, we may wash feet or share Communion, or both (hopefully with some… Read More
The Pastoral Is Political: Release Barabbas
“Release Barabbas for us!” (Luke 23:18) In Bangladesh, an 18-year-old student named Nusrat Jahan Rafi has died from the trauma of being set on fire, an attacked that caused 80% burn injuries on her body. The student had accused the school principal, an influential local leader, of attempted rape. Her family received threats after the… Read More
Saturday Prayer – Saturday Teaching
On that day, Holy Friend, before dusty cloaks thrown onto even more dusty earth, before the powers’ posturing, before you washed your friends’ feet and sat at a table even with the one who would betray you and prayed in a darkened olive grove, before torture and death. On that day, Holy Friend, you did what… Read More
Thursday Prayer: Festival of Lists
A friend calls this liturgical season the Festival of Lists. In this season of all the lists all the liturgies all the last-minute glitches we ask, O God, for your blessing: A blessing of a photocopier that keeps copying. A blessing of volunteers who bear with one another and with their pastors with generosity and… Read More
Saturday Prayer: Who Knew?
God, The Sabbath rest of Holy Saturday is not for us this year. If only we shared the Marys’ ignorance of what the dawn will bring, we could spend today in the deep rest of grief. But we have already heard the startling commands: “Go.” “Tell.” And, despite our alarm, despite our terror and amazement,… Read More
Holy Week Preparations
Here we are in the middle of Holy Week. How are you? What’s weighing on you? What’s keeping you going? What’s left to do? What’s left of your Lenten practice; is it something you might continue? If you have found a reflection or essay, blog post or op-ed that will influence your preaching or liturgy… Read More
