Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. Advent is not a season of preparation for Christmas, but for Christ. That is why, as we progress through these four weeks, our scripture texts point us, ironically enough, first to Christ’s Second Coming in…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. The summer I was eleven I went to church camp for the first time. Nestled in the woods of southern Indiana, close to the town of Bean Blossom, Waycross…
The R Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. Another week, another Gospel story is not easy to proclaim or hear. It has been a Fall of weeping and gnashing of teeth and outer darkness. And yet we are called to have…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. Today we celebrate All Saints’ Day, and in doing so we enter into a thin space. There is a liminality we recognize today that is always present when we gather to worship and come…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. When I was in seminary in Cambridge, MA – before I did my parish internship, I was a member of a small but vibrant parish in nearly Arlington. It was so small that it only…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. The summer I graduated from college, and about a year before the 1997 earthquakes in Italy badly damaged the Basilica of St. Francis, I traveled to Europe and visited…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. Give us today our daily bread, and dear God, forgive us our ungrateful hearts, that we might embrace the transforming love you freely extend. That could very well be a prayer offered…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. Today’s Gospel passage from Matthew contains one of the enduring images we have of the Body of Christ: For where two or three are gathered in my name,…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. Last week Moses was a baby being drawn from the river by the Pharaoh’s daughter. This week we’ve jumped ahead not only to his adulthood, but right past the part where he kills an Egyptian…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet. An iconic line from an iconic play. A sentiment, in context, meant to break…