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Prayers For When the Snow Refuses to Stop Falling
Growing up in northern Michigan, the idea of snow in April isn’t weird to me. It wasn’t even weird to think about snow making an appearance in May or June. And at the other end of the calendar, we had to integrate snowsuits into our Halloween costume design. But that doesn’t mean we don’t get…
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This Thursday of Holy Week
Between the Last Supper and the Passion, Jesus confronts the place of abandonment, his purpose and confusion. In the garden, we find a moment of intimacy which means so much more than we think. Tonight we’ll be gathering for our Maundy Thursday service. We’ll hear part of the story of the Last Supper from John’s…
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This Wednesday of Holy Week
The bridge from the start of holy week to the end reveals the wide difference between the world God dreams for us and the world we insist on perpetuating. Even as the dream comes alive in our midst. After three days of confronting the Temple authorities and challenging everything they believe about power and influence,…
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This Tuesday of Holy Week
Jesus’s confrontation at the Temple challenges us to see past their questions of authority, but the reason for the questioning. Jesus ducks their questions because they are questioning the authority of God. On Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem in a parody of authority. And after the crowds died down, he took a quick look inside…
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This Monday of Holy Week 2018
It’s the day after the great entrance. Palm Sunday was yesterday. Jesus seems to change before our eyes. But he doesn’t. It’s our stunning inactivity which gets called out at the beginning of Holy Week. We all know this story. It often goes by the strange name: the cleansing of the Temple. But it doesn’t…
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The Scandal of Holy Week
The challenge of keeping Holy Week is that there’s way more than we can fit into a couple of days. But we’re not doing ourselves any favors by not even trying. I grew up with Holy Week. As a life-long Episcopalian, Holy Week was a natural part of my upbringing. Just as all the seasons…
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How to Not Celebrate Valentine’s Day
It seems weird to mix Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday. One’s the annual celebration of love and the other the annual reminder of our own mortality. But the two belong together more than we think. In 2018 we are fortunate to have St. Valentine’s Day land on Ash Wednesday. And the juxtaposition of the two…
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Rethink the Gospel for Advent 4B – Who is Mary?
Advent 4B | Luke 1:26-38 Who is Mary? This time of year, everybody’s talking about her. Countless pieces are written, diagnosing her history and declaring her purpose. Many are bent on defending her virginity and others exposing her age. And much like the priests and Levites last week, we’re all trying to figure out how…