Last week, Isaac preached about the dangers of coveting—of wanting to dominate the earth and its people, of craving mastery, and of being drawn in to a competition for possessions. He argued that such covetous competition objectified people and rendered them thoughtless and voiceless. The antidote to coveting, he said, was love. Love necessarily involves […]
Psalm
Gardens
The Jeremiah writes a letter, a prophesy, to his people in exile, deported to Babylon, living among their enemies—a letter as guidance on how to survive. “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles… ‘Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce’ ” (Jeremiah […]
The Lord roars
For the past several weeks, the passages have focused us on specific people, characters in the story of the Bible, individuals in leadership roles in Israel—people like Samuel and David and Elijah, and we heard their stories as ways to think about our own lives. There’s a shift that happens today. For the next month […]
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 […]
a God who could dance
Trinity Sunday “I would only believe in a god who could dance.” That’s a line from Friedrich Nietzsche. He couldn’t believe in the kind of God who looks like a bearded man, ancient, sitting in a throne above, aloof, far away from our lives, distant from our world, safe from our chaos, uncontaminated by our […]
He withdrew
Ascension Day What did Jesus want? In thinking about this scene from the end of Luke’s Gospel, the ascension of Jesus, I’m wondering if this is what he wanted. This departure, this exit. “Lifting up his hands,” it says, “he blessed them. While he blessed them, he withdrew and was carried into heaven” (Luke 24:50-51). […]
Undone
Advent 2 John appears near Jerusalem, with bugs in his teeth from his locust meals, with the wild in his eyes, howling at the world to repent. A voice crying out from the wilderness, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 3:2). Something happened to John the Baptist, drawing him into the […]
Gratitude has made you well
“As Jesus entered a village, ten lepers approached him, keeping their distance” (Luke 17:12). These ten people aren’t even called people. They aren’t even acknowledged as human beings. They are called lepers. They are known as lepers. Their identity is leper. They are sick with a disease that made them outcasts. But, with Jesus, the […]
Tears becoming words
Last week during Sunday School, one of the kids asked a question that I’ve been thinking about all week, especially during a week like this one. We asked our class of 6 and 7 year olds what they wanted to learn about this year, what questions should we wrestle with—curiosities about God, about church, and […]
Break the chains
Jeremiah, chapter 32, verse 2: “At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard.” The people are in captivity. Jeremiah is under arrest. There is no hope. On the horizon, as far as the eye can see into the […]
Prayer to the God of our life.
Why are you bent over, O my soul? Why are you moaning within me? Put your hope in God, for I am still going to offer praise, my help and my God…By day the Lord directs his love, at night her song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life. (Psalm 42:5, 8) […]
The Adhan and Ma’an lil-Hayat
Revelation 5:13, “Then I heard every creature in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing…” Psalm 30:4, “Sing praises to the Lord, O you faithful ones, and give thanks to God’s holy name.” Last week I stayed in a refugee camp in […]
My soul thirsts, my flesh faints
On Monday mornings I used to park my car on the service road along 15/501, there in front of the storage facility and Swedish Imports mechanic. I’d walk down to the end of the road, down a dirt path that cut through bushes and shrubs, winding around the skeletons of refrigerators and washing machines devoured […]
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 […]
The bread of tears
Fourth Sunday of Advent A verse from our Psalm for today, this fourth Sunday of Advent: “You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure” (Ps 80:5). Tears flow like a stream through the pages of our Scriptures, sometimes turning into a river in books like […]
For you I wait all day long
First Sunday of Advent There’s a book I’ve been reading lately, and I’ve decided that it’s basically an Advent book—a book about Advent, because it’s all about waiting. That’s actually the title: Waiting. It’s about some toys—these little creatures here on the windowsill—who do a lot of waiting. [Several excerpts from the book] “They saw […]
Fire and flame are your ministers
I’m sitting there, trying to write this sermon, getting some decent thoughts on the page, typing away, me and my computer, along with everyone else and their computers, their books, their lattes—a bright day, a flood of sunshine cooled by a fall breeze. Then a song comes on, one of those songs that dazes you, […]
If the Lord is for us
If the Lord had not been for us –let Israel repeat it— If the Lord had not been for us when there arose against us: people, then alive they would have swallowed us in their burning rage against us. Then the waters would have engulfed us, a torrent sweeping over us, body and soul, then […]
Precious and lovely
What is this life for? What’s your life for? [personal story about a friend diagnosed with cancer] So I’ve been thinking about what life is for, this precious life: so brief and so breakable. These bodies, these friendships, these jobs, this family, all of it our lives—we have these fragile lives, and they crumble, never […]
That we may see and believe
In our story from John’s Gospel, the people find Jesus in Capernaum, and they’re trying to figure out what this Jesus is all about—what it would mean to believe in him, and what it would mean to follow him. So they ask Jesus, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we […]
Pentecost: Oscar Romero
Day of Pentecost On Pentecost we pay attention to the mystery of the Holy Spirit, the presence of God poured out from heaven: God’s spirit alive in us, alive in our world. What are the signs of the Holy Spirit, the signs that the Spirit of God is at work? I thought I’d see if […]
Uprooted and Sent
Seventh Sunday of Easter My favorite yoga pose is the tree pose. I love the experience of shifting my weight to one leg, finding a center, imagining my foot sending strong roots deep into the earth to hold me, as I raise my other foot, resting it against my calf muscle. I love to breathe […]
Transfiguration and fire
If you know me well enough, you’ve already guessed where I’m headed — you’ve already guessed what verse caught my eye, the part about the fire, of course. “Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him” (Psalm 50:3). Obviously I’m going to […]
Attention
In our psalm today, we hear of how intimately God knows us. At first the psalmist describes God as knowing our day-to-day activities: sitting, standing, walking, lying down, and speaking. But we then hear about a knowledge that only God can know: God knows what is inside of us, God knew us in our mothers’ […]