Elsa Anders Cook
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Prayers for Growing with God
Pentecost was last Sunday. Because the Narrative Lectionary offers four-cycles of readings from the Sunday after Labor Day to the Sunday of Pentecost, we find ourselves in liminal space. We are neither here nor there. It is summer. We are in-between what was and what… Continue reading
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The Stories Civilians Need to Hear
In the short story “War Stories” in Phil Klay’s Redeployment, there is this moment of internal thought that pauses the narrative. In the middle of two battle buddies trying to get laid by their stories, there is this moment of… Continue reading
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Prayers for Pentecost Winds
It’s Pentecost! For this special day, in which we celebrate the arrival of the Holy Spirit, the Narrative Lectionary has not one — but two readings — including Acts 2:1-4 and Romans 8:18-38. What a day! These two passages came together in a… Continue reading
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Wanting to Give Up
It’s true. Over the past few weeks, when I haven’t been posting about my latest escapades of entrepreneurial ministry, I have wanted to give up. I have wanted to throw in the towel. I have seriously contemplated why I ever… Continue reading
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Normal People Don’t Talk about Death So Much
Does anyone really have that many stories about funerals? That’s what I was thinking as she told the third story. Was it really the third funeral story? I tried to retrace the steps of our conversation seated there in the… Continue reading
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Struggling with Our Sins in Prayer
The Narrative Lectionary on May 17, 2015 is Romans 6:1-14 where it boldly claims, “So you must consider yourself dead to sin and alive in God and Jesus Christ.” My first instinct is to start singing along with Bon Jovi but it really has… Continue reading
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I Needed This Sacred Pause
Way back when in the beginning of Lent, I was looking for words. I was hoping to inspire the writer within me. I was hoping to release my creativity with words. So I wrote morning pages and picked up a… Continue reading
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Mother’s Day is NOT a Liturgical Holiday
It was months ago when I agreed to preach on the second Sunday in May. I said yes ever so willingly. I was just so thrilled to be preaching again after this new reality seeking (im)possible things. I didn’t realize… Continue reading
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Prayers for the Presence of Hope
The Narrative Lectionary on May 10, 2015 is Romans 5:1-11. Of this passage, Karl Barth claims in his great work The Epistle to the Romans: Love is what endures of our endurance, which is proved in our probation; it is the hope in our… Continue reading
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Preaching Without a Community Text
For the first time in months, I’ve spent Monday morning studying. I haven’t been in the pulpit for nearly three months but on Sunday I will preach. I will preach at a church I’ve visited just once. It’s a church… Continue reading
Cooking with Elsa 