The Resurrection, to me, seems the pinnacle of God’s queerness. The Divine, of course, has refused binaries since the Garden, when God created male to female–all genders–in Their image. Throughout scripture the Holy One inhabits mystery and defies definition: from the burning bush voice that insists “I am Who I am,” to the sacred presence…
Now that we’ve observed Epiphany, we can start planning for Lent! And one great way to prepare for the holy season is to order my new book, Prone to Wander: A Lenten Journey with Women in the Wilderness. Today, January 7, is the official release date. You can buy it through the publisher, MennoMedia, and…
Holy One,We, like the women at the tomb, have borne witness to death in many forms.We have encountered violence.We have carried grief.We have resigned ourselves.And so, even though we have heard this story many times,it is nowas alwaysunexpected–That there would be no stone to roll away,no death shroud to unwrap,no body to receive the carefully…
Our Easter celebrations tend toward glaring and loud:trumpets and choirs and big, gaudy lilies,baskets full of too-sweet candy and bright, glaring colors.That is all good—for what it’s worth. I wish you glorious musicand fragrant flowers;plenty of chocolate—the good stuff,and all the luminous beauty of the rainbow. That is my wish,for you.But this blessing is different.…
The women go to the tomb with spices, the stone is already rolled away, and suddenly two men in dazzling clothes show up, say “Jesus is not here, but has risen,” and the women blunder off to tell the apostles “all this.” The men regard the women’s talk as—it’s usually translated “an idle…
This post is excerpted from a sermon on Matthew 28:1-15, preached at Peace Mennonite Church on April 16, 2017. When we talk about witnesses to the resurrection, we almost always—and only—talk about the women. The faithful women were the ones who heard the angel message, saw the empty tomb, and went to tell people that…
Call to Worship (from Isaiah 65 and John 20) In the light of this Easter morning God is doing something new! New heavens. New earth. New life. Weeping turns to joy. Sorrow to delight. Be glad and rejoice. The stone is rolled away. The grave clothes lie in a heap. Jesus, who was dead, is…
A few years ago I audited a class at St. Paul seminary on “Preaching and the Short Story.” There was a story on the syllabus with “Easter” in the title, and I kept thinking I should read that before I wrote my Easter sermon. So this story title, “Small Easter,” kept rattling around in…
[This post is adapted from a sermon on Matthew 28:1-10] A rather interesting discussion emerged on my Facebook page this week about Easter sermons. Many were lamenting how difficult they are; a couple were suggesting that there is no need to even preach on Easter–that the story speaks for itself. And then my college chaplain…
*Below is the last part of my Easter sermon from this past Sunday (Luke 24:1-12). You can find the entire sermon here. I know that Easter sermons usually focus on the women–their faithfulness, their witness. Or maybe on the men and their disbelief. Or, if we preachers just want to go for the obvious, we…
Spacious Faith 