This reflection is excerpted from a sermon on Mark 11:1-11. As you prepare for Palm Sunday, you might also appreciate this prayer of confession and offertory prayer. For more Lent and Easter worship material, check the “Lent/Easter” category on the right side bar or go to the Index and scroll down to “The Year” section.…
This is an excerpt of the sermon I preached on John 19:31-37 this past Sunday, April 6, 2014. It is a complex topic and I commend to you the sermon in its entirety. – – – – – – I attended a discussion this past week with Mennonite theologian J. Denny Weaver. He has written…
Matthew 27: 33-54 [This post is excerpted from a sermon. The full sermon text is available here.] We began Lent with the story of Jesus in the wilderness. He is fresh off the spiritual high of his baptism where the voice proclaimed from the clouds, “This is my son, whom I love. With him I…
Mark 14:53-65; 15:1 [This reflection is excerpted from a sermon. The full sermon text is posted here.] In his massive two-volume work, The Death of the Messiah, Raymond Brown gives an overview of the scholarship on the Passion Narratives in the Gospels. It quickly becomes clear that there is a wide range of opinion…
[This column is from 2014 (back when I was a Young Clergy Woman instead of a Young Clergy Woman Alumna) and was originally posted on the Rev. Gal Blog Pals site.] A week ago, many of us participated in a holy ritual–Ash Wednesday. “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Drawing the…
–John 13:1-17 Rev. Dr. Alyce McKenzie, professor of preaching and worship at Perkins School of Theology, was sitting in the waiting area of her local discount tire store. She was reading a magazine when a pamphlet appeared in front of her face: “How to be born again.” “Have you been born again?” The earnest 40-something…
In preparing for Ash Wednesday and this weekend’s Lenten retreat I haven’t found a lot of time to blog. Thought I would share the offertory prayer we will be using for Lent this year. God of the Cross, in losing our lives we find them in you. In sharing our money and time, we receive…
This article is part of a MennoNerds Synchro-Blog on Missional Spirituality. With this event, MennoNerds is exploring Spirituality through an Anabaptist lens and what such spirituality means concerning participation in the mission of God. – – – – “Missional Prayer.” That’s my topic for today. And it seemed like a good topic weeks and weeks…
On February 17, 2014, the Executive Board of Mennonite Church USA released a statement entitled “Moving Forward.” (I’m pretty sure the irony is unintentional.)This statement is a response to the recent licensing of Theda Good by Mountain States Mennonite Conference. I grieved when I read this statement and realized that once again LGBTQ people are…
Last Friday was the first Valentine’s Day since my dad died. My brother and I don’t know what Dad usually did for the big day, so we got Mom some flowers. They are pink, not red. And the card simply says, “Happy Valentine’s Day;” it does not have one of those cheesy romantic Hallmark verses…
Spacious Faith 