This week many Protestant congregations celebrate Reformation Sunday. For my congregation, I think it’s third only after Christmas Eve and Easter. It’s important enough that we have planned a 2-week experiment in gathering outside just in time for Reformation Sunday (and rain is forecast for the first time in months for exactly and only that… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: whose authority do you say?
I have had a reminder pinging my phone, which in turn pings my watch all day! It woke me at 6am, 12 hours ahead of schedule. I did not need the reminder at 6 am. And even though I thought I’d cleared it, it keeps pinging away, on the hour, every hour. Sigh. On whose… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: Laboring in the Vineyard
As September continues, we may feel like we’ve been laboring a long time in the Vineyard. I preached this text 3 years ago for my congregation and the Committee on Preparation for Ministry. I preached “The Parable of the Generous Landowner” or “The Parable of Radical Equality.” They passed it, but the all older male… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: Leading now
Even though we’re a few months in, I still can’t get used to the Preacher Party being this early in the week. (That’s why I’m late in posting this!) I am truly a 11th Hour Preacher! But I know that, for some of you, Sunday’s service is already winging its way through cyber space, scattering… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: Back to School Edition
While it might not be back to school for anyone else, as for me and my household it surely is. I think teachers and preachers (and I’m sure many others) are sharing many of the lessons of our new way of being (even in places where people are carefully returning). So what can we learn… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: Sowing Seeds on Sunday
Welcome back to the sermon party. This summer seems to be flying by. Pentecost was 7 weeks ago?!? So here we are in the midst of Ordinary Time. Are you sowing seeds with the sower (Matthew 13)? Traveling with Jacob (Genesis 28)? Reminding folks that no matter where we are, God is there (Psalm 139)?… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: You Who Are Weary
How is your sermon preparation going at this point in your week? If you are using the Revised Common Lectionary, did you feel the weariness in your bones when you read Jesus’s invitation in the gospel text? Did you sense God’s weariness with Job if you are preaching The Narrative Lectionary summer series? Or are… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: Bound by what?
Where are you in your worship prep this week? Many of us are having to be ready to record services much earlier in the week because we can’t yet gather in person for worship. This week’s RCL Lectionary passages offer us the binding of Isaac, a prophet of peace, a covering of grace and a… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: Changing Seasons
This week the solstice occurs. Whether you are moving into Summer or Winter, what does the change in seasons mean this year? In the Liturgical calendar we have moved into the long green season of Ordinary Time (12th Ordinary, Proper 7, 3rd Sunday after Pentecost). As we continue to record services in my Southern California… Read More
11th Hour Preacher Party: tricky maths
It’s Trinity Sunday this week (1+1+1=1, anybody?). There’s a lot going on in the world. What are you doing to draw people into worship, prayer, and faithful action this week? Is your service online? outdoors? some other way? Will you be following the lectionary, starting a series, addressing something particular? Whatever plans are forming, or… Read More
