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
A whole new world may yet be born… God, we need to hear those words! And believe them! We live in such dire times – and it’s been hard and excruciating for so many people for decades and centuries, too, not just in recent times. We have always lived in… Read More »We Will Not Keep From Singing
I can’t say this enough – we are connected to each other! Down to our very cells, to our very DNA – we are created for connection, for relationship. We often forget this. God calls us again and again to remember that we are one, that we are connected to… Read More »Creation Will Dance
This poem came into being as I struggled to go further than the first two lines, which I felt were so cleverly rhyming! Then it all fell apart because I couldn’t stick with the meter, and then, after asking myself, why should I stick with the meter?, the rest of… Read More »It Doesn’t Fit
This was written for Thanksgiving 2020, during a spike in the pandemic. That day had become, perhaps, a focal point for the change and losses of that year so far, and this piece is meant to reflect that reality, and to point beyond as well. It’s more of a personal… Read More »Kaleidoscope