You will need: a piece of paper glue or Modge Podge foam brush collage materials (magazines, pictures, patterned paper, etc.) scissors colored pencils The Hebrew Scripture readings for Ash Wednesday have a lot of “heart” language. Joel tells us to rend our hearts and not our clothing. The psalmist writes: “teach me wisdom in my…
Three years ago I developed a creative arts Lenten retreat based on the Revised Common Lectionary passage. And guess what? The Lectionary has cycled back around to those same passages this year! So I will be sharing from that retreat material throughout Lent: scripture reflections, visual art prayer practices and creative writing prayer practices. The…
Have you not known? Our God is the everlasting God, Creator of the ends of the earth. Have you not heard? God does not faint or grow weary. Have you not known? God’s understanding is unsearchable. Have you not heard? God gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless. Have you not known? Those…
[This post is excerpted from this full sermon.] The very first sentence of this story tells us that “the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli.” And this sentence tells us right away how things are supposed to work. Samuel is a boy and Eli is a grown-up. Samuel is serving under Eli.…
Based on Psalm 62 Our souls wait in silence; our hope rests in God our rock our salvation our refuge. We will not be shaken. In this time of worship, we pour out our hearts because we trust in God’s steadfast love. Based on Mark 1:14-20 Jesus comes along side us and calls us by…
[This post is excerpted and edited from a sermon I preached a few years ago.] Jonah is a book of biting satire. You have a prophet who does exactly the opposite of what prophets are supposed to do. He runs away from Yahweh and keeps his mouth closed. The fish’s mouth, of course, is wide…
[This reflection is an edited excerpt from this sermon on Matthew 4:18-22.] Think, for a minute, about a time in the past few days that you were at work–your job work or working on some project or responsibility. You are grading papers or standing in front of a class full of kids. You are making…
Why are you here? We are passionate for God. Why are you here? We cannot bear the sorrow and violence of the world. Why are you here? We are hungry; we are tired; we are scared. God says: I am glad you are here. Watch. Listen. We hear the howling wind. We feel the earth…
I wrote this Call to Worship to go along with this week’s scripture reading. God calls us by name in our dreaming and our waking; in the Divine voice and human voices. God comes to us in the quiet and the noise; in the calm and the chaos. Always, God calls to us. Always, God…
Somehow I managed to preach on the magi story twice last year, so this year I went with Isaiah 60 for Epiphany. This is an excerpt. You can also hear the audio and read the full manuscript. – – – – – – – – – I imagine the captured Israelites expected their return home…
Spacious Faith 