In the 1983 children’s book, Round Trip, the author, Ann Jonas casts a fairly simple story. It’s a story of a family taking a road trip to the city. The pages are simple – black and white illustrations with one line sentences in the top corner. By the time you reach the end of theContinue reading “Rest and Hope”
Category Archives: Sermons
A Foolish Life of Weakness
Noted author and researcher Brené Brown has a lot to say about vulnerability, weakness, and strength. In her now famous TED talk from 2014, she lays out what she had discovered in her research around shame and guilt, and more importantly the power of vulnerability. The first time I watched this video, it hit meContinue reading “A Foolish Life of Weakness”
Planting and Praying
As the wind blew through the leaves on the giant oak tree above my head, I strained to see the sky through the blanket of bright green and flittering sunlight. As a kid, I would lay under this giant oak tree that took up its residence at the back of my parent’s land; soaring aboutContinue reading “Planting and Praying”
Remember and Keep
“Tell me you remember you are still a human being, not just a human doing. Tell me you’re more than just a machine, checking off items from your to-do list.” This is one of the ways in which the director of Duke University’s Islamic Studies Center, Omid Safi, writes about what he calls “The DiseaseContinue reading “Remember and Keep”
Sighs Too Deep
I was surrounded and the room filled with the loud sound of a family presenting to God their fears, their hopes, and their anxieties. In many ways, it was like any other day; I knocked on the non-descript hospital door and introduced myself. I listened as the family shared the terrible news about the patriarchContinue reading “Sighs Too Deep”
We Have No Other Choice
In an article published in March of this year in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, it was discovered that it takes about 90 hours to make friends. They studied different groups of people like students or those who have recently moved, and the researchers took careful note that friendships are not unilateral. OneContinue reading “We Have No Other Choice”
Resurrection People
A sermon delivered to the people of Christ Episcopal Church in Bowling Green, KY on Easter 2B, April 8, 2018 on John 20:19-31 “I want to know three things about you: what’s your name, what’s your mama’s name, and where did your grandmother grow up?” This was the question posed to a group of usContinue reading “Resurrection People”
We Know the Ending
A sermon preached to the people of Christ Episcopal Church in Bowling Green, KY at the celebration of the The Great Vigil of Easter, March 31, 2018 on Mark 16:1-8 “A long, long time ago…” is how some of my favorite stories start. Folk tales and legends are some of my favorite stories because theyContinue reading “We Know the Ending”
Concrete Acts of Love
A sermon delivered to the people of Christ Episcopal Church in Bowling Green, KY on Maundy Thursday – March 29, 2018 on John 13:1-17, 31b-35. On a warm, late-March Texas day, I sat in my normal pew; I had taken off my shoes as instructed and was ready to leave them behind when I wentContinue reading “Concrete Acts of Love”
Dying into a Life of Faith
A sermon delivered to the people of Christ Episcopal Church in Bowling Green, KY on Lent 5B on March 18, 2018 on John 12:20-33. It was a bright, clear early spring morning in Nashville, and a happy five-year-old donned in a bright kelly-green shirt came marching into my classroom. “Ms. Kello,” he said with seriousContinue reading “Dying into a Life of Faith”
Becca Kello 