Category Archives: Sermons

            There was always a certain buzz when I pulled out my flannel board to tell a well-known story in my pre-kindergarten classroom back when I was a teacher. I never could quite explain why the story of the three little pigs or of Goldilocks was just so much more exciting with small characters cutContinue reading “A Holy and Gentle Lent”

       There is a bit of a joke among clergy about ‘other duties as assigned’ which is often used as a catch all in job descriptions or even in ordination services. These are the things that might not directly tie to being a pastor, priest, and teacher, to which one pledges when they take theirContinue reading “Raised Up for a Life of Service”

            One of the tools that I have gained in therapy is something called a feelings wheel, and if you are looking for someone to point you to ways to connect with a therapist, I will gladly do so because many of us have never lived through times of traumatic national or global events whileContinue reading “Remembering Our Baptism”

       Traditionally, whether it’s Father Steve or me, the preacher doesn’t typically follow the children’s dramatic retelling of the Christmas story, but like almost every other aspect of this year, things are not quite as usual. I’m so grateful that I got to see our virtual Christmas pageant early so that I could know whatContinue reading “Joy Always Breaks Through”

            It doesn’t take much to invite a spiel from me about how much I love Dolly Parton. Growing up in Tennessee, she was always a constant in our lives; from Dollywood to the presence of her songs to the early days of her charity, the Imagination Library, which at the time was only inContinue reading “Suffering and the Reign of Christ”

There seems to be people out there who take naturally to learning another language, and after studying four languages to varying degrees of success, the one word that stands out to me, throughout all that study is a Hebrew word that my seminary professor told us was best kept in the original Hebrew, because thereContinue reading “Pervasive Love”

It wasn’t until I was sitting in the sanctuary at the parish where I spent my final year of seminary that I had a realization that I think most Christians have much earlier in the life of their faith. The choir stood in their blue robes with their music binders balanced upon their hands andContinue reading “Praying in the Shadows”

Throughout human history, the desire to see oneself reflected back in something has been persistent. There are prehistoric mirrors that were made of intensely shined rocks, or pools of still water kept for just such a purpose. We even have a biblical reference to a mirror in which Saint Paul compares something to “seeing inContinue reading “Who Do You See?”

It is said that if you get caught in a riptide, the only way to survive it is not to swim in the opposite direction of the current, desperate to get to where you once were, but to swim diagonally, away from the current’s cycle, into which it is easy to get sucked. This, particularlyContinue reading “Now is the Moment”

Like most folks, there are certain parts of my identity about which I’m particularly proud; lots of these things are hard to conceptualize or to name in a succinct way. Others, however, can be shown by a simple picture or a few short words. On my laptop, there are several stickers that highlight the thingsContinue reading “Remember the Table”