Speaker
Date
Book
Series

On the Occasion of Our Nation’s 244th Birthday

Jun 30, 2020   ·  

The United States of America will be 244 years old on Saturday. I ask you, how are we going to celebrate? We cannot waste this moment of righteous anger; we cannot waste the energy that is moving people to protest and to do the work needed to change a status quo that is hurting many— in particular, people of color. More

Someone is hurting our people and it’s gone on far too long and we cannot be silent anymore.

Jun 21, 2020   ·  

The Poor People’s campaign was in our building in 2018 and I remember this moment, when I swear it happened this way, I went downstairs to greet the folks who had showed up and it was the organizers.  One of the women asked me to stay as they prayed.  Of course.  And she started to sing a call and response.  We stood in a circle together and as we responded the doors to the parish Hall opened up and a couple of people joined us and then more and more.  We stepped back and expanded the circle again and again and from the circle as we expanded finally our circle was as big as the parish hall.  That is the call that is what we are called to do and to be.  Ever-expanding and ever more part of the circle.   More

All Lives Do Not Matter Unless Black Lives Matter

Jun 14, 2020   ·  

“We are taught to that we should just be really good at what’s already possible and to leave the impossible alone” Adrienne Maree Brown More

Most everything I needed to learn in this life I learned because I made a mistake.  And I was in a relationship with someone who could help me; hold it up, made me look at it.

Jun 07, 2020   ·  

The Rev. Cannon Stephanie Spellers says “Because “God created humanity in God’s own image, in the divine image God created them…” (Gen 1:27). You spit on a child of God, you’re spitting on God. And if somebody’s spitting on God, people of faith HAVE to step up. It’s not optional. It’s not “two sides.” Step up with and for the holy One who has been kicked, shot, choked, crucified, denied. Step up because oppressive systems dim the beneficiaries’ divine spark and full humanity. For the love of God, step up.” More

The Pentecost of Crossing the Divide of This Nation

May 29, 2020   ·  

The High School Seniors preached and Michele wanted to talk a little about Pentecost, modern-day lynching, and an opportunity to call the question about our work. More

Kids in the backseat

May 24, 2020   ·  

The apostles are in the back seat of the station wagon saying, “are we there yet?”. They have been saying it for a good long time and Jesus is saying “no, not yet.” Sound familiar? More

Abide Everywhere Including the Malt Shop

May 17, 2020   ·  

Jesus says if you love him, keep the commandments. 

And we know that to Love one another is the greatest of these. Jesus follower or not, what does the highest principal call from us? We are to love one another to treat one another as you would hope to be treated. It is not a bad way through this life. Our staying home, and not seeing each other is an act of Love, and to do it, means that you are extending that Love someone you have never met.  More

Do not let your hearts be troubled..reflection on Grief

May 10, 2020   ·  

Long after my mother’s death, after I returned from Calgary, I lived in a house right off of the exit that I so desperately waited to get through to get to the airport to get home to sit with my mother, to wait for death. 

Did I do it well?  Not really.

Did I know how to sit with the dying; I learned my mum, she was my first teacher.

I did not freak out.

I said good-bye as best I could

Did I say the right things?  Some yes and some no

I did tell her I loved her. More

Frankie’s Deli and Lessons About Gatekeeping

May 03, 2020   ·   ,

What if all the aspirational things that we are called to do and be in the world, our High mindedness, our desire to bring more love more light more god, more goodness into the world. What if our desire for a good orderly direction is the moving in and moving out of the sheep gate.   What if it is our life with goodness and grace that we have as we move back and forth. More

What is the revelation in your life and how do you hold on to it?

Apr 26, 2020   ·   ,

Though afraid of what might come next they could not let this man go on, in the dark so they invite him to stay with them, to offer them hospitality.   We all know the story.  If push came to shove you could tell this story, it is like the birth narrative and the prodigal son, people know this story.  And it has one of my favorite lines in scripture that when echoed in our service I settle into it, how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.  That is what a good story can do let you settle in and let you remember what you have learned, what was revealed to you. More