Abraham “fell on his face” (17:3, 17). That is our story tonight in Genesis. We are dipping into the era of the patriarchs and matriarchs. Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph. Sarah and Hagar and Rebekah and Leah and Rachel. Abraham and Sarah’s story is meandering and covers no less than 15 chapters of […]
Genesis
Beginning as Beloved
Today is the celebration of Christ’s baptism. And yesterday in the church calendar was Epiphany, remembering the three wise men from the east who journeyed to offer gifts and see the Messiah. It’s the time in the church year when we celebrate Jesus bursting onto the scene of the world’s drama – making himself known […]
Relentless love
The story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, this week of all weeks, lends itself to a bewildering variety of readings, most of them bereft of good news. Here’s the Sunday school version of the story—call it Joseph’s Righteous Prosperity. Joseph does what is right and so God blesses him, increases his power, his possessions, his […]
flood
There’s a lot I don’t understand about this story—about Noah and the ark and the flood. I don’t understand the flood part—all the devastation, people and animals, trees and grass, swept away in a torrent of water: rivers turned into seas, lakes into oceans. This is a story about judgment, about human corruption of the […]
Consent
In the beginning the earth was without form. In the beginning the darkness roamed and did not hide. The darkness covered. The darkness ruled. In the beginning, there was no light. In the beginning hope was formed with a breath that declared, “Let there be.” And in response to her own voice the earth shifted and moved, and God said “Yes, this is good.”
O my people
“O my people.” The words from our hymn have been circling in my head ever since Eric sent me the list of songs Friday afternoon, at 2pm, in an email I read on my phone in front of the old courthouse in Durham, near the empty pedestal where a metal figure of a confederate soldier […]
I did not know it
Jacob is on the run, crossing border after border, fleeing from his brother who has threatened to kill him. The sun has set. His feet ache. He has to rest. So he finds a rock for a pillow and falls asleep. And he dreams. There’s a ladder reaching from ground beside him into heaven, and […]
But Rebekah loved Jacob
“Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob…”~ Genesis 25: 28 One of the best things about preaching at CHMF is also one of the worst things about preaching at CHMF: Every time you do it, you have to follow whoever preached the week before, you have to take the […]
What love can do
I told Isaac after the service last week that a more fitting lyric for his sermon, in contrast to the Chance the Rapper line, “the praises go up/the blessings come down,” would have been a line from “Wait For It” from Hamilton: “Love doesn’t discriminate/between the sinners and the saints/it takes and it takes and […]
Please
Grace and mercy—that God gives us what we don’t deserve, what we haven’t earned, and refuses to punish us for the wrongs we’ve done. That’s our faith, in summary. We trust in God’s grace and mercy, we try to embody God’s grace and mercy. We gather for worship, we come together as a church, so […]
The PG-13 Life of Sarah & Abe
Prayer: Lord, we seek to understand the heroes of scripture, even when we are separated from them by 4000 years and enormous cultural differences. Lead us to the eternal truth contained in the story of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, and Ishmael. This note before I start: Much will be said about Abraham and Sarah. Their names […]
Do not be afraid, little flock
12th Sunday after Pentecost This week’s texts are forward looking in different, if overlapping ways, and so I attempted to a certain extent to consider them together. In Genesis, Abram laments that he and Sarai remain childless together; he is unhappy with his present situation, and names his discontent before God. God promises a different […]
Behold the beauty
In the middle of the prison I visit, at the center of the compound, between the housing units, there’s a vast lawn with concrete walkways running through it. The prisoners are not allowed to spend time out there, not allowed to enjoy the grass, the sun, the open space, but they do walk those paths […]
Muddy
The kids have been singing. For those of you who don’t get here early at 4 PM each week, you should know that you are missing out on some fantastic congregational singing these days. Eric comes each week with his guitar and the kids sit up here and belt out hymns, as well as some […]
Heavens torn apart
“And just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.” That’s the scene at the Jordan River, with John the Baptist and Jesus. There they are, at a baptism, and the heavens are torn apart. This is apocalyptic language. […]