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: More than Enough for Everyone
Whether you are following the continuous texts and have Jacob wrestling with God or the thematic texts and have the invitation to the table in Isaiah, you can’t go wrong. The sense of abundance that comes through these texts is undeniable, an abundance that is transformative and inclusive of all of humanity. What better message… Read More
Saturday Prayer
from Isaiah 55: 6-13 God, I give you thanks for trees that clap their hands, and rejoice at pterodactyls, very good bacteria … perhaps good virus. I celebrate armadillo and chigger, and that coelacanth, a Lazarus taxon, supposed to be extinct for 66 million years, is swimming today. I am grateful coelacanth’s waters now are… 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
RCL: We Can Work it Out
This morning as I was pondering the interesting mix of texts on offer, I had a sudden realization: these were the Revised Common Lectionary texts for Sunday November 13, 2016– the Sunday following the U.S. presidential election. I chose then as I choose this week, to use the Isaiah and Luke texts. About two-thirds of… Read More
Revised Common Lectionary: Angels and Demons Edition
The Revised Common Lectionary offers a number of great options for this Sunday! Will you be preaching on Jesus and the Geresene (or Gadarene) man who had been living with demons? If so, will you address the inconsistencies in the text – for example, the fact that Gerasa was over 30 miles from the Sea of… Read More
Sunday Prayer: Ostriches
On this Lenten way, O God of every life-giving way we pray for a new thing to spring forth: for the path through stormy waters and for those pummeled by the storm until a dry path becomes clear; for the avenues toward peace and for those surrounded by warring chariots until the rage of war… Read More
Friday Prayer: Something to Consider
ISAIAH 10:1-4 (NRSV) Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be your spoil, and that you may make the orphans your prey! What will you do on the day of punishment,… Read More
Friday Prayer: Based on Isaiah 51:12-16
Through prophets and time, through space and creation, the Divine speaks: I am the One who comforts you! My grace is enough, enough, enough. Why are you afraid of people, those who posture with false power? Have you forgotten the One who loves you- just as you are? The Holy Breath that brought creation out… Read More
RCL
Are you entering into the apocalyptic spirit of things? The apocalypse, the end of the world as we know it. Its interesting to me that Christmas is our preview of the apocalypse, because most portrayals of the 2nd coming of Christ bear little resemblance to Christmas. Christmas, however, is indeed apocalyptic precisely because it completely… Read More
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