Liz Cooledge Jenkins

• Late to the Vineyard

  Is your eye bad because I am good? That’s a very literal translation of the second half of Matthew 20:15, which is often translated or are you envious because I am generous? (e.g. NIV, NRSV). I’m thinking about this story, which Jesus tells in Matthew 20:1-16, about several different sets of workers who end up…

  June 15, 2020

• Poker, Prodder

  Keeping with the theme of the recent Christian celebration of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit, juxtaposed with this reality we find ourselves in: Poker, Prodder Holy Spirit, poker, prodder,  discomforter of unjust  horror-filled structures and disquieter of all who profit from them, table-turner of the wrongly weighted scales that weigh color and find darkness wanting,…

  June 12, 2020

• Kimberly Latrice Jones’ video, black anger, and white discomfort

  This video by black author and activist Kimberly Latrice Jones has been making the rounds on the interwebs. It’s entitled “How can we win?”, and it’s worth watching. I’m sure white people are saying all sorts of things about it, and it probably doesn’t need any more white person commentary. On the other hand, if…

  June 9, 2020

• Kitchen in the Clouds

  This past Sunday Christians around the world celebrated Pentecost – the coming of the Holy Spirit to dwell with and in human beings, as recounted in Acts 2. In the context of all of the recent and ongoing uprisings across the US – and with thanks to my pastor Lina Thompson for teaching that the…

  June 5, 2020

• It Fell

  Inspired by the New Testament book of Revelation and its images of fallen empires, which the author referred to as “Babylon” so as not to attract unwanted attention from the state of Rome. See Revelation chapters 14 (v. 8) and 18 (v. 2), for example. I was intrigued by reading in Greek and realizing that…

  June 4, 2020

• I Do Not Wish to Perform My Grief

  A poem reflecting on George Floyd’s murder, the subsequent protests, and my hope to stand in solidarity with my Black siblings in their weariness, grief, and anger. I Do Not Wish to Perform My Grief I do not wish to perform my grief as if it could be part of a persona crafted carefully to…

  June 1, 2020

• Roses

  Some recent rose pictures from our garden – because I’ve been enjoying them and hope you do too, because beautiful things are worth sharing, and because sometimes our souls need reminders that there is beauty in this chaotic world.

  May 28, 2020

• Big Trees

  Big Trees I find something reassuring  in big trees, the ones that asked no one’s permission when they sprouted from the ground  a hundred or a thousand  years ago. I would not know, unless one fell, what endless dramas its rings  might hold in memory―but I can dream: I dream up years of plenty,  like…

  May 27, 2020

• John the Baptist’s Legacy

  I don’t think I realized until last summer―when I was preparing a sermon on John the Baptist for a preaching class―how many things Jesus says that are actually direct quotes from John the Baptist, at least as recorded by the gospel writer Matthew. First I noticed that right as Jesus begins his public ministry, in…

  December 25, 2019

• Elizabeth’s Pregnancy

  This is not a pregnancy announcement :D. It’s not really a full blog post either. I was thinking about writing something about Elizabeth’s pregnancy with John the Baptist. After all, it’s almost Christmas, when we celebrate the birth of Jesus―and Elizabeth’s miraculous pregnancy and Mary’s were closely connected. I love the story Luke tells about…

  December 24, 2019

accountability agency America change church community conflict earth care evangelicalism friendship garden gender & feminism grief Holy Spirit Jesus justice LGBTQ+ power & authority prayer race & anti-racist work rest violence