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Prayers for the Incomprehensible Ascension

A dear friend asked what it’s like to be here in Germany now. Another assumed that the news cycle most familiar would be the one that surrounds my physical place but it’s not true. We might live in Germany worlds away from our homeland but we have our own little American island in our apartment.Continue reading “Prayers for the Incomprehensible Ascension “

PRAYER FOR EVERY SCREAM

I love this story of a group of moms meeting up on the track field of their local high school to scream. I am just sad that I didn’t hear about the first meetup. And that living on the other side of the Atlantic makes it really hard for me to show up. I haveContinue reading “PRAYER FOR EVERY SCREAM”

Baptism of Christ Sunday After the Riots

I lit a candle this afternoon when I didn’t know what else to do. A colleague and friend texted moments before to tell me that the prayers I had curated for the sermon series she had hoped to begin this Sunday may have to wait. Like the rest of the nation, I nervously refreshed myContinue reading “Baptism of Christ Sunday After the Riots”

Naming the Dead

On Friday, I attended a conversation hosted by the BTS Center called It’s Okay to Grieve. Allen Ewing-Merrill, the new Executive Director of this organization, is also a friend, He and his wife and sweet girls arrived in Maine while I was pastoring there to plant a new church within an old downtown congregation. I’veContinue reading “Naming the Dead”

Fear, Love and Another Supreme Court Decision

Yesterday, the Supreme Court decided by a 5-4 vote to uphold the ban on transgender service members fulfilling their call to service in the United States military. It was said by one woman just four years short of retirement in the Navy that this decision “speaks volumes about where we are as a country.” ThisContinue reading “Fear, Love and Another Supreme Court Decision”

Tell the Children

I sat there with my daughter in my lap turning the pages. Matt de la Pena’s book Love was sent to me by my cousin. She said it reminded her of me. So my heart was already in my throat reading this beautiful poem to my daughter. And then, I turned the page and sawContinue reading “Tell the Children”

What I’ll Tell My Daughter About Why I Didn’t March

I didn’t march yesterday. Our government shut down and I stayed home in my pajamas merely contemplating the state of the world rather than taking to the streets. There wasn’t actually a march in my area this year. There may have been one last year but I lived elsewhere then. I wasn’t even in thatContinue reading “What I’ll Tell My Daughter About Why I Didn’t March”

Good News for Today

It has been a long time since I was in the pulpit. My friend Elizabeth Hagan reminded me of this fact in her recent inquiry into why preachers should be political. It’s something I’ve wondered often. If I were to preach right now, what would I say? What would I want to say? What needsContinue reading “Good News for Today”

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 of a little boy — just three years old — who was reported missing. IContinue reading “Hoarse with Prayer”

The Things They Carried

Just the other day, I heard a story on National Public Radio about the objects that are being collected and preserved after September 11, 2001. Though I am a New Yorker, I wasn’t even in the country on that terrible day. I had planned to fly home that day. It was the day that I was supposedContinue reading “The Things They Carried”