I tend to get up early some mornings. Very early. Before the sun has considered rising, I often find a quiet spot in my chair to do work. It was about 2 months ago, when I was up quite early and settled into my chair, writing, when I heard a beep. At first, I thought…
Every so often, I find myself on a Monday morning wandering through the sanctuary, looking for papers I left on the pulpit, and as I walk through the sanctuary, almost without fail, bulletins on chairs caught my eye. Thinking I am straightening up, I go pick up the bulletin and find it has notes, doodles,…
Praying with Scripture After a comfortable season, Lent can feel abrupt and like we are driven to sacrifice. After feeling like spiritually, we knew what to expect and how to navigate the world around us, Lent can feel like an imposition. We begin this Lenten journey as Jesus did. Being called from affirmation and accolades…
Pray in the Closet The road to hell is marked with good intention…. (Saint Bernard of Clarivaux said this back in the 11th century) I think about this every time Lent comes around. Lots of good intentions to read your Bible, pray for others, serve the community, fast, give generously to those in need, teach…
You might be a poor Spiritual Friend, if you are foolish This week found me and many others down and out with the flu or other form of illness or malaise. As I sought rest, sleep, and respite, I found myself thinking of when I was a little girl and had a few sick days…
You Might be a Poor Spiritual Friend, if you are vainglorious Last week, we began a conversation about coming together across differences and distinctions. We looked around at the currently world, and said we need reasons to come together. After worship, so many of you indicated that the world I described sounded like where you…
You are a Poor Spiritual Friend, If You are Jealous We are living at a particular time in history. It is not, that we have never been here before, as a larger picture of humanity; it is that many of us as individuals, might not have been here before. We are living in a time…
The scripture said, “…the lawyer stood up to test Jesus.” Test Him? Test Jesus!? Does he really want to test Jesus? But he does, he says, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answers with a question, that is just like Jesus, a question with a question, “What is written in the…
I wonder if you have ever had this experience: You greet someone by asking how they are. They respond with these words: “I am blessed.” I am not sure how you have recovered from that response, but for me, I get lost in my own mind, rabbit hole maze that it is, wondering about what…
When I was in junior high, I can remember making and receiving mix tapes. Musical gifts of time. They took hours! In fact, so many hours, that I cannot get rid of them! We have at least a box-full in the basement. You would listen to the radio on an oversized boom box for songs that you thought should be a part…