Liz Cooledge Jenkins

• On wealth, poverty, and caring without being overwhelmed (reflections on Luke 16:19-31)

  16:19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 16:20 And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 16:21 who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and…

  September 29, 2022

• Gutsy faithfulness in a world where money fails (reflections on Luke 16:1-13)

  I’ve got another church eblast reflection for you all – unabridged (read: slightly longer) version!  This one’s on Luke 16:1-13: 16:1 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. 16:2 So he summoned him and…

  September 19, 2022

• Super chill book review: Bittersweet (Susan Cain)

  I tore through Susan Cain’s new book Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Can Make Us Whole (Crown 2022) pretty quickly. And I may have done so while referring to it as “my emo book” for short.  “Delightful” may seem an odd word for a book that’s all about being sad, but I really did find…

  September 7, 2022

• Switch those seats (reflections on Luke 14:1,7-14)

  On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do…

  August 29, 2022

• The unbound woman (reflections on Luke 13:10-17)

  Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set…

  August 19, 2022

• Super chill book review: Sand Talk (Tyson Yunkaporta)

  I read Tyson Yunkaporta’s Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World (HarperOne, 2020) a couple months ago in the midst of a several-days-long cat crisis. (Kitty is doing well now, thank you). So I may have been a bit distracted. So maybe take everything I say with an extra large grain of salt.…

  August 11, 2022

• “You are a Samaritan and you have a demon” – reflections on other-ing, compassion, and discernment

  The [religious leaders] answered and said to [Jesus], “Do we not speak well that you are a Samaritan and you have a demon?” -John 8:48 (my translation) Sometimes when I’m translating New Testament passages from Greek, a phrase jumps out at me like I’ve never really seen it before, even though I’m sure I’ve read…

  August 5, 2022

• Super chill book review: God is a Black Woman (Christena Cleveland)

  God is a Black Woman by Christena Cleveland (HarperOne, 2022)—what a book. It’s basically a mix of spot-on critiques of what Cleveland calls whitemalegod (you may know the one) and compelling explorations of what it can look like to ditch whitemalegod and seek the Sacred Black Feminine instead.   I was a fan of Cleveland’s work…

  July 29, 2022

• The body of Christ as spiritual fellowship

  This is sermon part 3 of 3! In it I offer some thoughts on spiritual fellowship. (Here are the first two parts, on shelter and nurture.) There are also a few brief general reflections at the end.  __ I don’t know if the words “spiritual fellowship” are words that most of us say on a…

  July 22, 2022

• The body of Christ as nurture

  This is part 2 of a sermon split into 3 parts. (The first one is here if you missed it.) The scripture passage is 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, and the theme is “shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the people of God.” This is the part reflecting on nurture: I think nurture, like shelter, can also be kind of a weird…

  July 15, 2022

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