The cycles or rhythms of the natural world help us to orient to time, help us to take comfort in their continuity, and offer us a peaceful presence in which to engage our hope.  As one season passes into another, we too are brought along with the world finding ourselves growing into maturity and change.  […]

I have a birthmark in the shape of a crown on my inner ankle.  When I was a little girl, I would daydream that the mark meant I was royalty and one day a messenger would come and tell me that I was actually a princess and I would get to go live in a […]

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food…  In reading these words from Isaiah and thinking about our friend Sam, I couldn’t help but think about all the food that Sam has provided to this congregation and others over the years.  Sunday morning breakfast, Thursday morning […]

I grew up a Roman Catholic.  We went to mass every Sunday or Saturday night—but never missed a week.  As a Catholic, I was taught about the Communion of Saints.  The understanding that there were those who had walked this earth and now lived in heaven but might still intercede for me, if I asked.  […]

Best day/worst day of my church life:  When I was eight years old in second grade, I celebrated my first communion.  My family was Roman Catholic at the time and in the Catholic Church, you didn’t get to take communion until you had completed First Communion class in second grade.  My classmates and I had […]

Several years ago before I went to seminary and we still lived in Selma, I was standing in line at Wal-Mart. I had made the mistake of coming on “check day”, the third of the month. The lines were long and many of the people there were buying groceries that would last for a month—bags […]

Too often we read a parable and are immediately tempted to assign all the parts. For instance, in today’s parables of lost things, we are quick to assign Jesus to the role of seeker and ourselves to the roles of the lost sheep or coin. There is nothing necessarily wrong with that, as a matter […]