I have a spiritual practice that helps me internalize the Scriptures and the ways of God. I imagine being one of the characters or a bystander in a biblical story, and I spin out the story as I see it. It doesn’t have to be theologically “correct,” although I try to keep it plausible. I simply spend time wondering what it was like to … Continue reading Saved on the Road
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what … Continue reading Advent 2021: Mary
Annunciation to Joseph Steady, old boy. You can believe your eyes. Admit it. This is not unfamiliar, this mystic hope that shimmered in the shadows that day as the sawdust settled under your restless feet. You can believe what her ears heard, what she told you, how the messenger revealed the mystery’s shape hidden within her innate devotion. You can do this. The raw material … Continue reading Advent 2021: Joseph
I couldn’t tell you when it went absent without leave but one day I noticed it was gone. The last shred of possibility slipped out the door. You adjust. The sadness becomes mortar for a wall just high enough to keep the dream from getting in finding its old place where it fit in so well until it didn’t. We resigned ourselves to a good … Continue reading Advent: Elizabeth
In Advent we realize that the birth of Jesus is part of a bigger story, thousands of years long and eternal in scope. It includes the prophecies of people like Isaiah, who lived 2800 years ago, centuries before Jesus appeared on the scene. He was an ordinary man whom God tapped to be a prophet in Judah. Judah was a small nation with mighty nations … Continue reading Advent 2021: Isaiah
The sins of the fathers are tenacious unless there has been a reckoning, a washing in the river to a new awareness, a new name reminding him of that long night of struggle, grasping desperately to the past and finally letting go, with a blessing, no less. Ten sons had learned their lessons well, living into a new iteration of deception and manipulation, greed, competition. … Continue reading Seed of Israel
What did they expect when they followed him to Bethany, a whole day’s journey from the scene of Jerusalem’s crime and its surprising aftermath? He had been talking about what they would do next, but he kept leaving out his part whenever they tried to tie him down on that point. He repeated his big dream for them one more time before he grinned and … Continue reading Ascension
A re-telling of Luke 5:17-26 Even though the house was already crowded, when the elders arrived, they were given front row seats, where the teacher was telling curious stories about seeds and banquets and quarreling brothers. A Pharisee was posing a convoluted question when falling debris gave them just enough warning to avoid the chunk of ceiling that barely missed Jesus himself. The dust cleared … Continue reading Healing 101
Luke 14:1-6…..On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy. And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, ‘Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or not?’ But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed … Continue reading Sleight of Hand
This is the last in a five part series, “Unexpected Treasures in the Desert.” It is a sermon series for the congregations I am serving, known collectively as Prairie Faith Partners. This series is provided to help you navigate the COVID-19 epidemic “wilderness” we are experiencing together. For each sermon I am writing my own reflections on the texts, which I like to do in … Continue reading Looking Ahead
saint sinner seeker 