Blog
Advent’s Harvest
Where the ground is frozen,
raspberries will ripen.
Where the street is empty,
dancers will parade.
Where the embers are cold,
a phoenix will soar.
Where hope’s heart is broken,
compassion will bloom.
on Jeremiah 33:10-11
Let It Count
Let it count in our favor, O God,
that it’s been a rough year.
Let it be to our credit, O God,
that we can still find a prayer—
or at least a swear in your direction,
which should also count.
Put a “plus” in our column, O God,
for all the strikes against us.
Let it count in our favor that we
said grace at the table once or twice.
If today our most faithful effort is takeout,
let it not go without your understanding.
It has all rolled together, O God:
the horrors and fears, like life is stuck
with caps ALWAYS ON AND SHOUTING.
Let it count in our favor that our volume
has neither silenced the stormy winds
nor daunted the sun’s unyielding glare.
Let it be to our credit that we still say “please”
and “thank you,” that we give witness to heaven
when all the world is a dumpster fire—except
that it isn’t, really, which is why we still love.
If there’s nothing else redeeming about us,
O God, let love count in our favor.
O Lord, remember in David’s favor
all the hardships he endured.
(Psalm 132:1, NRSV)
Treading Water
In advanced swimming lessons and in lifeguard training, many years ago, treading water was my favorite part of the final tests. Far from being a challenge to exert as much energy and strength as possible, treading water was a challenge to conserve energy as much as...
Wrestling
Let me behold your face, I prayed, but instead you met me in the dark and bent me into painful knots. Let me be relieved, I pleaded, and instead you laid a path among my adversaries. Let me prove my heart, I declared, but instead you withdrew to tend the song of...
At a Distance
Then God said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship at a distance. Moses alone shall come near the LORD; but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.” -...
Still, Still, Still
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things to great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother. - Psalm 131:1-2a (NRSV) Maybe you’ve been feeling this...
Milcah’s Inheritance
Milcah sang a lullaby to her granddaughter Rebekah, born to Bethuel, You are a queen, gifted and beautiful, a sovereign over kings. You are the gladness of ancestors, and the celebration of the future. And Rebekah believed her grandmother Milcah, owned the inheritance...
Confession
We have listened to the wrong gods, O Holy Life, to the ones that say "Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps" and the ones that say "Your help is in the rat race." Hear your people protest: "How long?" Hear your people confess: "No more!" We have said our prayers to...
For the Sake of Expediency
The officials said to the king, “Jeremiah ought to be put to death, because he is discouraging the people who are left in this city.” King Zedekiah said, “Here he is – I won’t stop you.” So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern. - Jeremiah 38:4-6 (adapted)...
Nuanced
a sermon on Genesis 21:8-21 and Romans 6:1b-11, preached at Christ Episcopal Church (Shaker Hts OH) There is no nuance to it. There is no middle ground, there are not “both sides.” Sarah is in the wrong. Hagar is in the right. Sarah is wrong for oppressing Hagar,...
Troubled
Incline yourself like a dread warrior toward those you love, O Holy One. Count the hairs on the heads of Robert Fuller, Malcolm Harsch, Dominique Alexander, and comfort those terrorized by racism's awful fruit. Hear the cries of the children. Hear the cries of the...
