TagForgiveness

What Lies Beneath

Nope.  Not thinking about the 2000 release of the Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer horror movie of the same title.  I’m thinking about a tree.  An apple tree.  An apple tree that stands in the northeast corner of my yard.  An apple tree whose days are numbered. On Saturday night, as I was returning from…

Christmas 2 Sunday Preview

“But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.” –John 1:12 In Sunday’s Bible readings we are reminded that we are claimed and called as children of God. God creates family not because we are God’s blood relatives, but through adoption. In baptism we are…

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Words of Power

TRADITIONAL SERMON — EASTER 2 Words have power.  Even in a world like ours where words are vomited across every single communication platform that exists in far greater volume than ever before.  Amazingly, our regular misuse of our words has not diminished their inherent potency.  If I say something like “TOM!” … I immediately have…

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“Did You Happen to Find Your Keys?”

There’s a set of keys offered to us in today’s gospel text that we (and the disciples) are challenged to find: the key to knowing peace rather than fear, the key to being able to trust another person, and the key to offering forgiveness. Finding the keys to discipleship is a necessary step in our quest to travel down the road.

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Lent 4 Sunday Preview

Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’ ” (Luke 15:31-32, NRSV)  The psalm sets the tone this day: “Happy…

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Ashes

God is great at teaching through paradoxes, things that at first, seem totally absurd. Jesus does his best to explain how they are true. The contradictory proposition of Ash Wednesday is how ashes not only cleanse, but prepare space to light a new fire.

Repentance Made Visible

“It only takes a spark, to get a fire going.”  Pass It On, Kurt Kaiser, composer It is late in the evening, minutes shy of midnight, and two dozen of us are gathered in front of the old stone fireplace.  We hear some words of Scripture and offer up some prayers to God … we…