Suggested Spiritual Practice: Plant something this week. Think about the gardener in the parable of the barren fig tree. What does it mean to be fruitful? What does it mean to tend beauty? Music Links: “O God, you are my God” (Choral arrangement) “Your love is better than life” (Acapella) “Come Ye” (Sweet Honey in…
Please see the previous post for an introduction to this prayer series. Suggested Spiritual Practice: Visual Lectio Divina You can find a description and example of this practice here. Music Links: All will be well (contemporary song) The 23rd Psalm (Bobby McFerrin) Call to Worship: Christ, you long to gather me under your wings. I…
Each week during Lent, I will post Lenten prayers. There are some suggested spiritual practices and music links for the week. Beginning with the call to worship, there is a daily prayer liturgy that you can follow on your own or with a group. The basic outline and prayers are the same throughout the week,…
It has been a long Epiphany season, but Lent is, finally, right around the corner. I asked my mom—also a pastor—if I could have some of her ashes this year and she just dropped off this tub of burnt palm leaves. So even if I live to be 100 and never retire, I am set…
This is the public comment that I gave to the Douglas County Commission on February 20, 2019, regarding their proposal to hire a construction manager for the jail expansion project: The Douglas County jail population has grown 15 times faster than our general population since 2011. And I have not heard any good explanations as to…
Let us trust in God and do good, So we can live in our communities in safety. Let us delight in our God, And gratefully receive the desires of our hearts. Let us commit our ways to God, Because when we trust, God acts. Let us be still before God, And wait patiently. Let us…
Originally posted on Spacious Faith:
The treats Grace and I made for her party: pink pretzels. I began the celebration of Valentine’s Day yesterday by preaching on adultery and divorce. (Gotta love the Lectionary!) In about an hour I will continue the celebration by hanging out with a classroom full of first-graders who are ingesting…
Imagine a graduate student working late into the night at her computer in a coffee shop. She’s thinking and staring at the blank screen, starting and stopping. She finishes a paragraph, gets herself a cup of coffee, and sits back down at the screen with mug in hand. Her eyes flash over the paragraph she…
Holy God, You call us “beloved” And you love us with a fierceness that is at once unsettling and comforting. May your Divine love dwell within us and be enacted through us so that No matter what language we speak Love will dance within each word we say; When you call us to stand up…
In God we take refuge. God hears us and saves us. God is our rock and our fortress. God is our hope. And so we come, seeking God’s peace. We come, offering God praise. We gather together in worship. The intent is that the worship leader reads the plain text, the congregation reads the bold,…
When we meet Jeremiah he is young—scholars think probably about 19. He is from a priestly family and, as far as we know, was living a fairly comfortable life. Then God shows up and says to Jeremiah: “You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be…
In February of 2013, when my dad went into the hospital, I was overwhelmed by the intense, unbearable hope that my dad be made well. At first, this was hope for a diagnosis. I thought that if we could just name his disease, they could make Dad better. I was wrong. When I got what…
