Advent is a movement, not an end.Advent is sitting with all the turmoil around us and within us.Advent is a reminder of who we are, and who we might yet become.Advent is both a call and a promise.Advent is that process that helps us remember who we are, even here,… Read More »Advent: A Call and a Promise
These Christmas Eve resources were written towards the end of September following a tumultuous political summer in the U.S., and in the midst of a tumultuous election season as well. Not to mention wars, genocide, floods, droughts, horrendous hurricanes, and wildfires. Again. Environmental devastation, injustice, hate, division, lament, and fear… Read More »Christmas Eve 2024 Service
These are not ordinary times. We stand on the edge of an abyss. We feel the pull of anxiety, despair, division. Yet there are forces pulling us back from the edge – hope, community, solidarity, peace. The love of God, of neighbor, of all Creation. The love we receive and… Read More »Advent for Creation at the Edge
It is said that when people stand at the edge of things – the rim of the Grand Canyon, for example, or the top of a tall, tall building – many sometimes experience a pull from the depths, a terror that holds all attention; what researchers have come to label… Read More »Creation at the Edge: Prayers and Readings for Election Season 2024
Life-giving hope has been with us and always will be: In acts of compassion In the resilience and power of community within the web of life In those who do not give up In those who do give up for a time, but then stand up and try again In… Read More »Easter Resources for a Season of Lament and Hope for Creation
Welcome to Lent! So it begins! You might ask yourself, what are we giving up for Lent this year? When I served churches as a pastor, I usually gave up sleep for Lent! But we are here together on this Lenten journey not to give something up (except, perhaps, sleep),… Read More »Lent: a Season of Lament and Hope for Creation
Advent has been a story of ordinary people in overwhelming times. Powerless people in a “power-over” world. Characters caught up in a story of destruction and oppression. And they each said “Yes!” to God’s call to change the world, to trust the vision of a new Creation, to love strongly,… Read More »Christmas Eve for Ordinary People in Not Ordinary Times
The Bible is full of ordinary folks. In fact, that’s who mostly makes up our extraordinary holy scripture. Ordinary people trying simply to live, and to figure it all out, in the midst of marginalization, fear, oppression, and uncertainty…of Empire. But also in the midst of hope and wonder and… Read More »Advent for Ordinary People in Not Ordinary Times
The journey leads us to an empty tomb.Easter brings surprise.Easter brings a shout and a sob…Easter brings questions…God picks us up, spins us around, and pushes out, saying “Go! Love! Hope!” Years ago, my son and I went to see the most recent “Jesus” movie at the time (it was… Read More »Easter: Wonder, Absurdity, and Holy Questions
We do yearn so fiercely for peace, for justice, for healing of creation, for healing of our lives. We do yearn so fiercely for restoration of all creation, for joy, for a new world to be born. Advent is a time of holding on, in the midst of yearning, in… Read More »Advent for a New Creation