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Of what are we afraid?
This is what trust looks like, what faith looks like. Not only in the mustard seed, but in the calming of storms. Not only in the theoretical, but in our lives; in our triumphs and challenges; in our doubts and our assurances; in our despairs and our elations. GOD is there and way more committed…
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Asking for what isn’t ours
We receive a GOD, who like Samuel, weeps over Saul and the people’s rejection. Or scatters seeds in strange places and allows them to grow, even without our help. Or sends us a promise in a new king, one who doesn’t rule, but teaches; who doesn’t command, but invites; who doesn’t demand, but tells stories.
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Choosing GOD means looking funny
The sort of liberation Jesus offers comes with a helping of crazy. Proper 5B | Mark 3:20-35, 1 Samuel 8:4-20 Mistaking GOD for a demon This morning we truly begin the season after Pentecost. Unlike the other seasons of Advent, Christmas, the season after the Epiphany, Lent, and Easter, this season does not have an…
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Encountering the Love of GOD
in the lifting up and in the groundwork Trinity B | John 3:1-17 Focus There’s a joke clergy like to make this week every year. We send each other videos and post memes on Facebook about the challenge of preaching on Trinity Sunday. It is known by many as the one day each year in…
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When the Spirit Comes
Seeing, Hearing, Feeling and Testifying in Truth Pentecost | John 15:26-27 & 16:4b-15 When the advocate comes After Jesus comes back from the dead and appears to Mary, appears to his disciples, then appears to them again, now with Thomas in their midst, he says to them that iconic phrase: “Blessed are those who…
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The hard message of a simple love
To love as Jesus says and does Easter 6B | John 15:9-17 All You Need is Love? We are once again in John 15, which is part of this book’s accounting for Jesus’s final teaching at the last supper. Whereas Mark, Matthew, and Luke have Jesus get right down to the point, giving them…
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Living in the midst of death
Jesus’s vine image and the challenge of abiding in him Easter 5B | John 15:1-8 A Green Thumb My Mom is a gardener. When we moved up to Alpena from southeast of Detroit, we were moving into a rectory: a two-story beauty with a side porch and slightly sloping lawn. Big, mature trees next…
