Our yes can be powerful. But there are times when our no is needed, when we inevitably lose our way in the temptations, and when the idolatries of pride, power, or possessions get the best of us. So as we begin our Lenten journey, I invite you to consider the power of the word “no” for Christian discipleship. Because of your faith, what do you need to say no to?
Read MoreWe practice our piety constantly in myriad ways, sometimes intentionally and other times not. These signs of our faith can include anything from saying “bless you” after a sneeze to wearing a smudge of ashes across the forehead. Practices of piety help to anchor our spiritual journey and incorporate our faith into the rest of our lives. Piety permeates our existence. In Lent, we are called to slow down, to listen, and to still ourselves before God. And we do this not by hiding our piety, but by narrowing it and focusing on three spiritual acts: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting.
Read MoreThis year, we need the season of Lent, and the world needs us to journey through it faithfully. The world needs our prayers, our generosity, and our humility. When we can stand openly before God, with a willingness to peer beyond the veil, we will find there strength and love and healing for ourselves and for the world.
Read MoreWhether or not you have one hanging in your closet, there is a garment we share as followers of Jesus. In early descriptions of Holy Baptism, we know that new converts were given a simple white robe to wear, which symbolized putting on the robe of Christ. The robe signified a fresh start for the newly baptized, now free of past sin and shame, and dressed in freedom and dignity. Sharing the news of that outfit is an exciting post-shame pandemic call for the church.
Read MoreThere is a certain kind of trust involved in the life of creation sustained by God’s grace. There are those times when things begin to look thin and we can worry about tomorrow. We ask where our next meal will come from or how we’ll pay for clothing even before our plates are bare or our clothes are worn out. And the temptation is to let this anxiety grow until we no longer trust the gifts of God and creation’s flowing plenty. We begin to hoard, to store up goods. It helps us feel secure and safe when we do this, but over time it begins to isolate us. That is why Jesus says woe to the rich, not in condemnation, but in loving warning. His is an invitation into a different way. The way of affluence.
Read MoreAs I look back on my grandmother’s life, much of which was not easy, I know that she understood about the deep water of faith. She knew where her abundance came from, even when the only thing in the cabinet was peanut butter and pie tins. She answered God’s call to serve others even when it seemed impossible, and never found herself without precisely what she needed.
Read MoreJesus somehow managed to walk right through the angry crowd and go on his way. We can follow his lead, and come to see that God’s grace extends to all people, even the ones we think have it all wrong. That perspective doesn’t solve our differences, but it does keep us away from the cliff’s edge.
Read MoreOne of the most remarkable things about the juxtaposition of these two passages is that not only do they both include the public reading of scripture, they proclaim almost identical messages. Nehemiah and Ezra and the Levites declare that “this day is holy to our Lord.” Jesus reads from Isaiah who foretells the coming of the one who will “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Both stories announce to their listeners, both ancient and present-day, that the time is upon us. God is here, at work among us right now. Things are about to change. Good news has come to those who need it this very day.
Read MoreYou may not have read it this way before, but the bible in its whole, is a love story. We could even dare call it a romantic comedy—not of the sort that’s always funny, though there is that, but in the wider sense of comedy, where at the end, no matter what, there is happiness and joy. From Isaiah to Ezekiel, Hosea to Zephaniah—the Hebrew prophets picked up on this theme of love and described the relationship of God with Israel as an engagement for marriage.
Read MoreIn Christianity, there is no finish line down the road we have to cross in order to receive grace or a spot in heaven. You don’t have to live a long life or reach particular goals to get in, because that’s not how grace works. People came up to Jesus all the time with their burning questions, and he met them where they were. He never said things like, come back and talk to me in 30 years and we’ll assess how much you’ve improved. He was more likely to say things like, “Today, salvation has come to this house.” We have faith that salvation has come for Mary, that she has received a full measure of grace.
Read MoreIf you are finding these days difficult, friends, you are not alone. Our spiritual lives and needs in 2022 are different than they were before. We’re now deep into the waters of baptism with one another, where faith insists that destructive forces are never more powerful than the love of God in Christ. That love raises us to new life, come what may. That is the bigger picture the church offers this day, which has come, as it so often does, just when we need it most.
Read MoreYes, our Savior has been born, but the road to salvation is long and sometimes frightening. After almost two years of living with Covid-19 all around us, I feel similarly about this new year. Yes, 2021 is finally over, but we’re not out of this pandemic yet. Some days, I’m frankly at a loss. How can we respond to this deep truth of the Incarnation: that new life and human brokenness continue to coexist? I think we take a lesson from what happened to the Holy Family after the birth of Christ.
Read MoreChristmas, the actual event of Christ’s coming into the world in flesh and blood, offers a different story. In a world categorized and calculated, manipulated and exploited, God came to be with us and alongside us. And in that coming Christ did not simply arrive to offer us some new thing to look forward to, an ultimate expectation in the heavenly realm. No, Christ came into a world objectified by power and greed and said “you.” Not the “you” of Francis Crick in which every subject is made an object. What Christ brings, Auden reminds us in his poem, is that moment in “the stable where for once in our lives/ Everything became a You and nothing was an It.”
Read MoreIf life happens to feel messy these days, remember that tonight’s joy doesn’t come from a picture perfect holiday cookie or an ideal family gathering. In this place, the pressure to achieve those things is off. God can see right past the Instagram version of our lives to the real one anyway, which is the one God actually works with. The true joy tonight comes from the angel’s good tidings of great joy, tidings meant for us, which we really can’t miss.
Read MoreThe Incarnation is good news for people of all genders and no gender, but I have come to see that Mary’s womanhood has profound implications for her faith and for ours, when it comes to her celebrated obedience to God. Just a few verses before today’s Gospel passage, a perplexed but resolved Mary said to Gabriel, “here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” And so we venerate Mary for her “yes,” for her willingness to be the vessel God called her to be.
Read MoreJohn the Baptist is the voice of one crying out in the wilderness. He is strange, an outsider, and as such his invitation is away from the safe confines of the familiar. He does not go into the cities or villages to proclaim his message of repentance. Instead, he stays at the margins and invites all those who see the need for renewal to come out to him. It is from the wilderness that he makes way for the coming of the Kingdom, it is through a fast from the familiar that he prepares the people for the coming of the Messiah.
Read MoreOur sacred story begins not with the first but the second coming of Christ to a world in distress, to a people fainting from fear. It’s a strange place to start the story. But it is a profoundly hopeful place to start, especially for the anxious.
Read MoreWhat a powerful reorientation our scriptures offer us today. Whereas traditional kings are powerful because they are self-serving, wealthy in the things that are passing away, and in a complicated relationship of competition with God, Christ the King is powerful because he is the light of the world, because he is in right relationship with God, and because he brings about a realm of love and hope and abundance for all people. He does not rule over, he sacrifices for, lifts up, ushers in, dwells among.
Read MoreToday we celebrate All Saints. Over history it has become a time when we remember those we have lost, those we hope to see again in the Resurrection life of God’s renewal of all things. But that word saint refers to something more than simply the Christian dead. It is rooted in the word holy, connected to the words health and wholeness.
Read MoreA sermon for All Saints’ Day, for all those who need to see a bit of heaven shining through.
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