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Prophetic Preparation
My kid mentioned casually the other day that she has an emergency bag packed up in her room. This statement caused her parents’ ears to perk up. “What are you preparing for?” we asked. “Are you mad at us? Are you going to run away?” we teased. “Oh,” she responded, “No, it’s in case there’s…
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Prophetic Grief
“O that you would tear open the heavens and come down!” I learned this week that the Hebrew verb, qāraʿtā, almost always refers to the ritual practice of rending a garment, which, in biblical culture, is an expression of mourning.[1] So the prophet is not pleading for God to intervene on earth and fix things for us. He is…
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Expectation
The wise and funny Anne Lamott says: Expectations are resentments under construction: set the expectations bar as low as you can! Write badly for an hour! Try not to hit any pedestrians; fill up at the gas station and then take the nozzle out of the gas tank before driving off. (X, August 17, 2020) …
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Staying Awake
I have a confession to make. I suspect that I would be labeled foolish by the writer of the gospel of Matthew. Because if I were one of the bridesmaids from today’s reading, I can almost guarantee that I would have forgotten my oil. Several people in this room can attest to my forgetfulness: Brad…
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How We Belong
In her article “The Great Reversal” historian of religion Diana Butler Bass points out that for centuries, the church has placed a primary emphasis on belief. The first step has been to decide what we believe and then determine how that belief asks us to behave and then finally, to solidify our belonging—to make a…
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Communities of Integrity and Authenticity
Last week at this time I was lucky to be at a gathering in Cleveland, OH. Now, depending on your personal history with the great city of Cleveland, you may or may not find it surprising that I consider myself “lucky” to have spent time there, but for people connected to the United Church of…
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Christ as Common Ground
Earlier this year, the Washington Post published several stories of Indian boarding school survivors. Dora Brought Plenty recalls: “[Two men in black suits] came toward me, grabbed me by my little arms, jerked me up out from the desk, out the door, to a black car.” She was 6½ years old and too terrified to ask who…
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Be Like Jesus
In today’s reading from Philippians, Paul is quoting an ancient hymn used in the worship of the earliest Christian communities. This “Christ Hymn” begins: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” “Mind” is an inadequate translation of a Greek word, phroneo, that has no real parallel in English. One New…
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Forgiving Ninevah
How can you not love the story of Jonah? It’s one of the Bible’s Greatest Hits, and for good reason: God is the main character, of course, but a complicated one, who alternates between threats of destruction and forgiveness. There’s Ninevah, a bad guy turned good. Then there’s Jonah, who in this story may fit…
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No More Minnesota Nice
My neighbor runs a landscaping business. He has a diesel pickup truck that he likes to let idle in his driveway in the back, or on the street in front of our houses. It just sits there and runs, spewing foul fumes I can smell all the way inside the house. I really don’t understand…
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The Law of Love
One night last week, as I was making dinner, my kid brought a cardboard box up from the basement. Full of baby bunnies! The bunnies were tiny. Their eyes were nearly closed. I’ve been told my eyes grew very wide as I learned that they had been staying in our house. The story unfolded: they’d…
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Get Behind Me!
Does anyone else wash and reuse plastic Ziplock bags in their house? The truth is, no one in our family wants to do the annoying chore of scrubbing, rinsing, and hanging the bags up to dry. So those pesky bags pile up. Each night when we clean up the supper dishes, we tuck a few…
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Who Do You Say That I Am?
Who do you say that I am? During the Epiphany season last winter, we collected the congregation’s responses to a similar question, Who is Jesus for you? Here are a few of the things folks said: The lead of the Questioner’s Club, who sometimes shines a light for us to see answers and solutions. My Savior. I’m not…
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Transfiguration
We have just heard the story of the time when Jesus showed his most trusted friends who he was for the first time, and how they reacted. If you’ve ever been a part of a coming-out moment, I wonder if elements of this story feel familiar to you. Maybe you’ve been the one holding part…
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When We Fall
Hi kids, will you come over and join me here for a moment? Today I want to teach you a song. The words are simple; can you say them after me? Peace be still, peace be still. The storm rages, peace be still. Now I’ll play the song for you. Stephen Iverson wrote it and he’s singing it in this recording.…
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Juntos Podemos
Our group was walking down a dusty gravel road in San Lucas Tolimán, Guatemala. I fell into step beside a local woman named Carla, who was serving as our interpreter for the morning at the women’s center. After we got acquainted, she began to tell me a story. A group of construction workers from the US came to San Lucas,and,…
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How Do We Get Outside of Our Ideological Bubbles?
You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and…
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Spreading the Gospel in the 21st Century
We are halfway through our July combined services with our friends at First Congregational Church. Since Jane McBride preached the last two Sundays at UBC, I’m glad to be back preaching here at First Church for the next two Sundays. My topic (pulled out of the Grab Bag) will be “How do we spread the…
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When Did We See You?
Years ago I was doing some pre-marriage counseling with a couple: Amanda and Steve from First Church.If you know these two, you know they are very funny people, with what I’d call a delightfully irreverent sense of humor. I’m telling this story with their permission. We were planning the wedding, discussing what type of service they wanted—and didn’t want. They…
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I Will Be with You
In my early 20s, I worked as a chaplain intern at the Detroit children’s hospital. I chose to be trained in that setting because I love kids. I hadn’t thought much about what it would be like to witness the suffering of children with cancer or severe epilepsy or other chronic illnesses. Nor did I have any idea…