Elsa Anders Cook
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Starting Over Again
My sermon ended yesterday with the bold proclamation that God is just beginning to do a new thing. The words have been ratting around in my head since I first typed them. Pushing and prodding and nudging toward this amazing possibility… Continue reading
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Heavens Are Opened
This Sunday marks one of my favorite liturgical celebrations where water is flung across the Sanctuary and we each remember our baptisms. It is the Baptism of Christ as we remember it told in Luke 3:15-17, 21-22. As our heavens are… Continue reading
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The Birth of Hope
I’ve been thinking a lot about hope — where it comes from and how we find it. Because it seems hard to find right now. Any proclamation of hope feels nonsensical. It feels trite and ridiculous. Or worse, it’s so obscure… Continue reading
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Litany for the Birth on Christmas
It was raining all today and I was generally uninspired but sat my butt down in the chair and wrote the liturgy for Christmas Eve. Though I’m currently serving a congregation as an interim pastor, I was hired after I’d… Continue reading
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Published, Printed and Praying
More and more, I’m answering the call to write. So much so that I seem to be writing about writing. This seems a tad ridiculous so I hope you’ll forgive me for this — but here I go again writing about… Continue reading
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Advent and Christmas Candle Liturgies
Today and yesterday, I’ve read some really beautiful liturgies from friends and colleagues preparing for Advent. Check out the beautiful liturgies written by my friends Teri and Martha. Advent is only three Sundays away. Three Sundays. And it was 77 degrees outside yesterday. I… Continue reading
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The Warmth of God’s Saints
All Saints is one of my very, very favorite liturgical celebrations. It is a ritual that was introduced to me in the liturgical laboratory of my seminary. Sitting in James Memorial Chapel, I experienced for the very first time what… Continue reading
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The Hill of the Lord
This Sunday is one of the days in our liturgical calendar when I would rather be sitting in the back of the Sanctuary quietly praying. But, I am called to preach. I’m called to guide myself and others through the holy… Continue reading
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Running Naked
It was only a few weeks ago that I found this beautiful passage from a colleague’s sermon on her blog Spacious Faith. That little passage from her sermon archives inspired what I preached that Sunday. I tend to be in… Continue reading
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Hoarse with Prayer
Between spurts of writing my sermon today, I checked Facebook. It seems it is something that every preacher does. When God isn’t speaking clearly, preachers open their browsers to scan posts on Facebook. Today, I kept coming back to the same story… Continue reading
