I’ve decided to cancel Lent next year. I’m pretty sure, as a (still) ordained part-time Mennonite pastor, I have that kind of power. I mean, I have a card in my wallet signed by the conference minister. So be looking for the headlines: No Lent Next Year. Last year a dear church member and friend…
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…
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…
Today is Wednesday. Holy Wednesday. The ultimate hump day of the ultimate hump week. Nothing much is happening today, but everything is about to happen. And the tension of doing nothing when so much needs done is almost too much to bear. We have a room to prepare and a meal. We have promises to…
Last Saturday I was awake at 5 a.m. I didn’t want to get up, so I stayed warm under my covers and started thinking. I began making a mental outline of the sermon that I needed to write that morning. Then I started thinking about possible crafts for the February craft kit. And back and…
Spacious Faith 