Feb 8, 2021 | confession, healing, hope, lament, prayer
I cannot fly, O God of the soaring eagle; I cannot even leap with a dancer’s grace. But today I can wake and I can rise, and perhaps the strong wind will remind me not to be so rooted in fear. I cannot measure up, O God of the starry heavens; I cannot even...
Nov 30, 2020 | Advent, comfort, justice, lament
O God, the nations have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins. They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the air for food. – Psalm 79:1-2 (NRSV) The bleakness of early Advent – these first few days when the lectionary...
Jul 28, 2020 | confession, faith, lament, theodicy
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.” –...
May 16, 2020 | lament, love, news
“Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away.’ … I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.” – John 14:27b-29 (NRSV) It’s the speech that I call The Great...
Mar 16, 2020 | faith, lament, Lent, stories
I hear a voice I had not known: “I relieved your shoulder of the burden; your hands were freed from the basket. In distress you called, and I rescued you. – Psalm 81:5b-7a (NRSV) I’ve never felt close to God in a personal buddy-buddy kind of way. It’s never been...
Feb 9, 2020 | faith, lament, prayer
My flavor is lost and my spirit is faint within me, but o my God, surely this salt of humanity can still be scattered on the ground to melt the ice we fear. My light is dim and my flesh is so very weary, but o my God, surely this lowly lamp can still hold one shadow...