Matthew Fleming: Lent Devotion: Growing in Awareness
Church Anew continues its offerings of Lenten devotionals with the latest from Matthew Fleming.
Frederick Buechner Sermon Illustration: Tears (Psalm 126:5-6)
In our blog post each Monday we select a reading from the Revised Common Lectionary and pair it with a Frederick Buechner reading on the same topic. Next Sunday we will celebrate the Fifth Sunday in Lent. Here is this week’s reading from Psalm 126...
Bishop Michael Curry: Give Me Jesus! (Welcome Back To A Crazy World)
The following is a transcript of the sermon of Presiding Bishop Michael Curry at the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church, meeting in retreat at Camp Allen, Navasota, Texas, through March 21. These remarks have been lightly edited for clarity.
Will Willimon: How to Listen to a Sermon
Good preachers must have well-tuned ears; we’re able to preach only what we have been enabled to hear. Just like you listeners, preachers are Christian on the basis of news we have heard.
Leonora Tubbs Tisdale: Theologizing from a Woman's Point of View
Preaching by women is not only about bringing women’s life experience into the pulpit; it is also about crafting theology through the lens of that experience and challenging theologies that do not lead to the liberation of all peoples—including women.
Margaret Marcuson: Learning about leadership from Brother Cadfael
Here are four lessons for church leadership from a surprising source: a fictional medieval monk.
Laura Jean Truman: Lent Devotion: Everyday Holiness
Spend some time this Lent meditating on Scripture with the guidance of Laura Jean Truman and Church Anew...
Frederick Buechner Sermon Illustration: Parables as Comedy (Luke 15:11b-32)
In our blog post each Monday we select a reading from the Revised Common Lectionary and pair it with a Frederick Buechner reading on the same topic. Next Sunday we will celebrate the Fourth Sunday in Lent. Here is this week’s reading from the gospel of Luke...
Walter Brueggemann: On the Way to a Peaceable Torah
Israel’s walk in the procession did not require other nations to sign on to the God of Israel. Thus Micah compromises nothing of the specificity of Israel’s faith. But that faith is not aggressive or exclusionary or preemptive, but generous in its welcome.
Jessica Gulseth: Lenten Devotion - Scripture Study as Spiritual Practice
Loving God, open the Bible to me. Reveal your love in the stories from of old. Show your character in the pages of this book that has been passed on from generation to generation. Shepherd me through studying your scriptures. Amen.
ReadtheSpirit: Summoning spiritual resiliency after two years of coping with COVID by Daniel Kidder-McQuown
I want to highlight the plight of those who continue to suffer. I want to give a window into what health care workers are still dealing with. The virus continues. While we have come a long way in managing the pandemic, the virus continues to exact a heart-breaking toll on patients, families, and staff.
Drew Rick-Miller: Jesus and Love: The Bible and Science Tell Us So
Here is a thought experiment: Imagine asking your congregation the first thing that comes to mind from the prompt, “Human evolution.” What kind of responses would you anticipate?
Susan Sparks: The Music Inside
I’m sure you have all heard of the great composer Beethoven and his famous piece the 9th Symphony. It was heralded as a work of genius because Beethoven did something that had never been done before. But here’s the real kicker...
Frederick Buechner Sermon Illustration: My Ways Are Not Thy Ways (Isaiah 55:6-9)
In our blog post each Monday we select a reading from the Revised Common Lectionary and pair it with a Frederick Buechner reading on the same topic. Next Sunday we will celebrate the Third Sunday in Lent. Here is this week’s reading from the book of Isaiah...
Walter Brueggemann: Keeping Names and Preserving Possibility
A congregation might be a keeper of names, and a seer of individual persons. Such a community might regularly engage in a recital of names…of those in the news this week, of those who have contributed mightily to our common wellbeing, and those who have suffered the most in our common injustice.
Jenny Sung: Lenten Devotion - The Lord is My Shepherd
The themes of this devotional revolve around spiritual practices that emerge from studying the 23rd Psalm. May you find a meaningful and holy Lenten season.
Frederick Buechner Sermon Illustration: The Power of God and the Power of Man (Luke 9:38-43a)
In our blog post each Monday we select a reading from the Revised Common Lectionary and pair it with a Frederick Buechner reading on the same topic. Next Sunday we will celebrate the Second Sunday in Lent. Here is this week's reading from the gospel of Luke...
Robert R. LaRochelle: I Love the Church, I Hate the Church: Paradox or Contradiction?
Is it possible to, at one and the same time, both love the church and hate it as well? UCC minister Robert R. LaRochelle offers some insights on this conundrum in a new book.
Walter Brueggemann: On Sacramental Pronouns
As a regular church goer, I love to fall back into the familiar phrase and cadences of the liturgy. While I am a low-church Protestant, I have great appreciation for the recital of the classical liturgy.... My long practice of liturgy with access to a variety of ecclesial articulations, however, did not prepare me for the quite unexpected crisis in the liturgy reported in our local paper....
Ed Rosado: Race and Health - The Intersection of Disadvantage
In an article published by The Atlantic, Olga Khazan chronicles a powerful account of Being Black in America. She tells the story of Kiarra, a young African American woman from Baltimore who faces the insurmountable obstacles of a social structure that is hostile to people of color....