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…
There has been a bit of discussion among bloggers recently about the merits and pitfalls of daily gratitude posts on Facebook. You can read my contribution to the discussion–and see my random list of ten things I’m grateful for–over at Rev. Gal Blog Pals.
Acts 19:11-20(See full sermon here.) Today, in our culture, we don’t understand the world to be filled with demons–except maybe on Halloween. Otherwise, we’re more likely to ascribe illness to a virus or bacterial infection or cancer; erratic, illogical behavior is blamed on mental illness; a series of tragedies chalked up to bad choices or…
This is the week we move. Just a few miles away. Onto three glorious acres. I can’t wait to meet all of the trees. To host s’more parties and craft parties and retreat times. To sit on the deck and look at the stars. The bright, twinkling, abundant stars. Of course, there is still the…
I’ve been enjoying some end-of-the-year posts from other bloggers and thought I would do one of my own. So here are a few highlights from Spacious Faith’s second full year! I’ve become a contributor to a few great web sites: Mennonite Weekly Review Huffington Post Christian Century TextWeek Liturgy Link I’ve developed creative worship, retreat,…
I took a picture of our lit Advent candles for my blog post a few days ago. My 14-year-old daughter saw the picture and said, “Wow. Our house looks pretty in that picture.” Not to say that our house in reality is not also pretty–in it’s own messy, disorganized way. It’s just to say that,…
As an adoptive parent, I feel obligated to write a post about adoption this November–National Adoption Month. And since the month is about over, the post is going up even though I don’t have a lot of warm fuzzy things to say about adoption right now. It’s been a difficult few days in parenting world…
So today, instead of shopping, I’m pohsing. And I hope you’ll join me. Here’s the basic idea: Instead of–or in addition to–buying more stuff, we will pause and be grateful for the blessings we already have. And we will support (with links and/or money) charitable organizations that seek to provide these same blessings to those…
In case you haven’t noticed, I love words. I love reading them and writing them. I love speaking them and listening to them and praying with them. And words can be wonderful, soul-nurturing things. But my spiritual director recently pointed out that I also use words to distract myself. I use them to place myself…
I had a lot of fun trick-or-treating with Grace downtown on Halloween. We were harmless aliens. Nothing scary. But there were plenty of fierce werewolves and bloody vampires and creepy ghosts wandering around. Plenty of costumes to remind me that Halloween is not really about candy; it’s about death–it’s particularly about our fear of death.…
Spacious Faith 