Words matter, so you need to say it, believe it, and receive it: You are enough. YOU are enough. You ARE enough. You are ENOUGH. If you’re at all like me, you’ve experienced moments, times – or maybe even whole seasons – when you felt as though you weren’t enough. So, just in case youContinue reading “Enough Already”
Category Archives: Sermons
Asked and Answered
Come and fill our hearts with your peace.You alone, O Lord, are holy.Come and fill our hearts with your peace.Alleluia! Amen! I daily struggle to understand these times of tumult in which we now live. Twenty-eight years ago, I’d have never believed – on that sunny June afternoon of my wedding – that our childrenContinue reading “Asked and Answered”
(he/she/they)
Of the Trinity’s three persons, I sometimes feel most sorry for the Holy Spirit. Because, no thanks to human curiosity and thick-headedness, the Spirit always seems to be suffering from an identity crisis. It’s as if humanity harbors an insatiable desire to identify and personify the Spirit, yet none of those cravings ever seems toContinue reading “(he/she/they)”
The Ark Experience
“Look at the ravens!” That was last Sunday’s Gospel challenge to reflection. “Look at the birds! Look at the ravens!” ordered nonother than Jesus. “They neither sow nor reap; they have neither storehouse nor barn. And yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds.” No doubt, for those withContinue reading “The Ark Experience”
How Much More, Then
Since our fiery, razzle-dazzle remembrance of Pentecost last month, Scriptures have been speaking to biblical images and symbols of the Holy Spirit. First came water, with a full-throated invitation to abundant living from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah: “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come, buy andContinue reading “How Much More, Then”
Quench Your Tongue
Any number of signs herald the arrival of sultry, warmer weather. Over at our place, one such signal is the re-opening of the garage-roof reading room and tanning salon. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the neighborhood, the nippy jets of lawn sprinklers goose-bump young skin and loose chilly squeals of full-bodied excitement. “Summer is here,” you whisperContinue reading “Quench Your Tongue”
Living Wet
To the farmer standing in the barn and staring out at waterlogged fields, more rain right about now feels more like curse than blessing. A couple of you privately have already asked that I prayerfully ask God to cork the clouds and close the spigot. Yet these cold, wet days that fill the barns withContinue reading “Living Wet”
Sober Inebriation
Forty days after his resurrection, Jesus leaves the earth in physical form, and his body returns to heaven, where he sits down in his seat of honor at the right hand of God. That’s the story we heard last Sunday. We were “looking at feet,” as we stood with the apostles and watched Jesus ascendContinue reading “Sober Inebriation”
Staring at Feet
Six weeks ago, we celebrated Easter, and the Gospels proclaim the stories of Jesus appearing to his apostles over the span of 40 days after his resurrection. Luke’s Gospel sees Jesus joining two men traveling a dusty road to Emmaus, and together with them at table, Jesus makes himself known in the breaking of bread.Continue reading “Staring at Feet”
God’s Naughty Child
Ouch! My month-long sabbatical didn’t exactly go as planned. Just a handful of days into my much-needed break from the demands of daily life and responsibilities of ministry, I took a tumble down a short set of concrete steps, as I set out for a hike on an otherwise-sunny spring day in northeast Wisconsin, theContinue reading “God’s Naughty Child”