Ingredients for Worship
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Praising God from Sunrise to Sunset
For June 7, 2015 the Narrative Lectionary leads us to consider the inspiration of Psalm 113. There is the option to pair this reading with Luke 15:8-10 but I’m skipping over that again this week. It’s summer and so I want to use prayer… Continue reading
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The Howling of a Fierce Wind
This summer, I am honored with the opportunity to fill in as Guest Minister at Community Congregational Church in Short Hills, NJ. Their talented and dynamic Minister is enjoying a four month sabbatical. During that time, I get to fill… Continue reading
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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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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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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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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
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Faith and Belief Right Now
The Narrative Lectionary on May 3, 2015 is Romans 1:1-17. The first Sunday in May was the particular Sunday that my home church always celebrated the Confirmation of its youngest members. J.R. Daniel Kirk comments that the thesis of this letter in verses… Continue reading
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Praying to Really, Truly Be the Body of Christ Together
The Narrative Lectionary on April 26, 2015 is Acts 13:1-3; 14:8-18. There is something that transpires here between Paul and the man who could not use his feet. The man listens — intensely, it seems — to all that Paul has… Continue reading
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What We Must Say and Do
Over the weekend, I saw Woman in Gold. Throughout the film, even in the most subtle of moments, there is this question about how an individual or a nation participates in Nazism. Is it just something that happened? Are our… Continue reading
Cooking with Elsa 