A man in the church has been asking for prayers for friends, whose young adult son was in a coma after a terrible car accident.
Yesterday I received an update. According to the young man’s mother, a friend of the family who lived down the street was sitting by his bedside while the mom took […]

Wow, the idea of “time” is enough of an interest of mine that it warrants its own blog category. And the title “it’s about time” has been used at least once before on these pages.
Anyway, what I pitched to the editors of Denominational Magazine is a series of ten articles exploring different scriptural perspectives on […]

What a relief, and a rare thing, to have my sermon “done” on Friday night.
From a series we’re doing at Suburban Pres. entitled “The Once and Future Church,” inspired by the Loren Mead book of the same name. (Many thanks to this article for providing the structure for the sermon.)
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
For just as the […]

Some of the readings for the Lessons and Carols service on Sunday, adapted for “speakers’ choir”:
Still to revise a bit (suggestions?), and figure out who will be saying what, and rehearse, and did I mention that now it’s *little she-who-is* who is running a fever?…
It’s like being nibbled to death by ducks.
FIRST LESSON Genesis 3:8-15 […]

…a stewardship sermon?
based on the book of Ruth,
particularly the passages that appear below
“Where you go, I will go. Where you lodge I will lodge.
Your people will be my people, and your God my God.”
How many times had Naomi heard Ruth’s words echoing in her mind since that day? Even after all this time, the scene […]

Peeking in again…
Update: I finished the article and eagerly await the 80 smackers coming to me.
Now I am working on my sermon. In the text God says to Solomon, “Ask for what I should give you.”
Solmon asks for “an understanding mind.” My question for all of you out on the internets, whether you believe in […]

This is one of mine… as Songbird wings her way to the UK, sans carry-on luggage.
——
Well, those of us in the United States are on high alert for air travel. Thank heaven, it appears that a huge disaster has been averted. Meanwhile, dreadful conflicts continue in the Middle East and around the world. We here […]

• Cheers: VBS starts tomorrow at the church. I am commandeering a group of youth to present the Bible story through drama each day. Tomorrow we are doing the creation story, and I wrote a little reader’s theater with props to prompt audience (kid) participation:
Narrator: In the beginning when God created, there was nothing.
And God […]

Mark 6:14-29
“A Peculiar Banquet”

King Herod heard of [the acts of Jesus], for [his] name had become known. Some were saying, “John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.”
But others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is a prophet, like one […]

A sermon based on II Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17
6 So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— 7for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and […]

Deacon/Session Retreat today. The divine miss m came along.
From the Bible study I led:
But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him. For we are the aroma of Christ to God…II Cor 2:14-15
what is the aroma […]

I think this is kind of a silly one, but it was fun to preach. Posted partially for Mamala who was tending to little she-who-is during the sermon today.
The scripture tells the story of the disciples choosing a person to replace Judas among the 12…
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
In those days Peter stood up among the believers […]

A couple Saturdays ago I was cleaning up after baking some cookies when the doorbell rang. I figured it was our mail carrier dropping off a package–what with Christmas, M’s birth, my birthday, and C’s birthday next week, we’ve been getting lots of stuff in the mail lately. I opened the door to find two […]

Yesterday was one of those freak-out days. Part of it was mom being gone, part of it was finally reaching that personal saturation point—that absolute weariness of being available body and soul to this infant. She’s also just portable enough and agreeable enough for me to try to get some things done, but not portable […]

Dear C,
I don’t have time for a whole letter for you today—although you’ve given me much to write about lately. Maybe another time. For the moment, here is a very quick, very short scene from last night.
after dinner we cleared the dishes,
wiped the counter dry,
and fitted the sink with
a blue plastic basin.
you stood on a […]

a sermon
(Those of you who have the RevGals Advent book will recognize some of this!)
At the beginning of our service we sang one of my favorite hymns, “The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came.” Verse three describes Mary as such:
Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head,
“To me be as it pleaseth God,” she said.
Ah, gentle Mary—mild, […]

1 Thessalonians 5
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. 2For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3When they say, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come […]

Blog Your Own Blessingway…
Below is one of the meditations I wrote for the RevGals book. It is based on a sermon I wrote for the preaching journal two years ago and then later preached in my own congregation. For those of you wondering about what a Blessingway is, here is a partial answer, particularly in […]

This was last weekend’s sermon. Lectionary preachers will notice this was not the text for Sunday. I normally preach monthly, but this month I was scheduled twice–and in order to be a good steward of my time and energy while Rev. B is in Kenya and “I’m it,” I slightly reworked a sermon I preached […]