With Matthew 28:1-10 The earth is shaking. Are angels descending? The tomb is before us. Is the stone rolling back? It’s bright as lightning, blinding as the sun reflecting off of snow. Of course we are afraid. But we need not tremble. We need not become like the dead. Because the tomb is empty and…
This is the Good Friday service I put together for this year. We will again be using a script put together by a church member that simply pulls out the dialog of the passion story. I find this to be a powerful reading, though it could be confusing for people unfamiliar with the story. You…
Below is the introduction and conclusion from last Sunday’s sermon on Luke 4:1-13. Have you ever played “peek-a-boo” with a baby? Hide your face behind a baby blanket or your hands, wait a beat, and . . . “Peek-a-boo!” The baby’s squeals of delight are enough to make you repeat the move over and over…
“I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you Which shall be the darkness of God. As, in a theatre, The lights are extinguished, for the scene to be changed With a hollow rumble of wings, with a movement of darkness on darkness.” ~T.S. Eliot The primary images of…
What can I say? Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. So the Wednesday Worship Pieces got moved to Friday. And that’s how life goes sometimes. Both of these pieces will work well with general Lenten themes, I think. So they wouldn’t necessarily have to be used this first week of Lent. First, an offertory prayer: God of…
I am involved with a new blog project called Practicing Families. One or two Mondays each month, you’ll find my weekly prayer practice in the form of a family liturgy over on that blog. And never fear, I will always link you over. For my personal prayer practice this morning, I did a visual lectio…
Rather than post a particular prayer practice this week, I want to highlight some resources that you might find helpful as you think about the upcoming Lenten season. Here are some available through this very blog: Wilderness Choices: The Way of Jesus in a World of Worry; this is an actual, in-person, retreat at the…
I realize some people count shopping days until Christmas, but we pastors are more likely to count preparation days until Lent. (That would be 20!) So as we look ahead, I offer some links to resources from years past. But first, an invitation! You are invited to join me and others from Peace Mennonite for…
Reading the Bible and writing poetry in a quiet house. Life is good today. Thank you for your words for my sestina. The poem I wrote is below. If you’ve written one, I’d love to see it! You can send it to me via the “Contact” page–and let me know if I am allowed to…
I love to play with words–their sounds, their flexibility, their clarity and their ability to obscure. I suppose this playfulness can get irritating in a preacher. So I’m going to channel some of that energy into poetry. Yesterday I re-read and slightly revised a sestina that I wrote during our Lenten Creative Arts Retreat. Sestinas…
Spacious Faith 