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Feminist reflections on the resurrected Jesus (a sermon on Luke 24:36b-48)
Hi friends, Last month I had the great joy of being warmly welcomed into a new-to-me church to speak. Plus I got to take a ferry ride to get there, and meet Oscar the Bird King after! At the gracious suggestion of the pastor who invited me to preach, I spoke quite a bit from…
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Who’s turning over some tables already? A sermon on John 2:13-22 (part 2)
Hi friends, Last week I shared the first half of a sermon on John 2:13-22, imagining what it might have been like to be among the crowd of folks coming to the temple to worship, when all of a sudden, Jesus starts turning over tables. Here’s part 2! ____ I wonder what kinds of perspectives…
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Calling all with a “Grand Mother spirit”
Hi friends, This week I want to offer you two poems. (Well, one’s definitely a poem; the other is debatable, but it’s not not a poem. So I’ll just be calling them “two poems” for short.) We talked about both of them in the “God, Gender, Power” class I’ve been facilitating at my church for…
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Doubting in Community (a sermon on John 20:19-31, part 2)
Hi friends, Last week I posted the first half of a sermon on “Doubting Thomas.” This is the second half! ___ I noticed something else, too, when reflecting on this passage—something I hadn’t really thought much about before. I noticed that there’s a whole week in between when Jesus appears to the first group of…
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Permission to Doubt (a sermon on John 20:19-31, part 1)
Hi friends, I was thankful to be able to guest preach a couple weeks ago at Normandy Park United Church of Christ. I thought I’d share a written version of the sermon here, too. Because I feel like I benefited from having to think a lot about Thomas, and faith, and doubt, and “believing without…
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Peace to be fearless
Hi friends, This Easter week has me thinking about what most of Jesus’ disciples did, as recorded in John’s gospel, right after Jesus’ resurrection. Just that morning, Mary Magdalene found the tomb empty and then saw the risen Jesus (looking a lot like a gardener; John 20:11-18). And now the disciples have gone and locked…
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On Palm Sunday (a poem)
Hi friends, Reflecting on Palm Sunday, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey greeted by crowds crying “Hosanna!” (meaning “Save us!”), I wrote a poem about some of the things we might need salvation from (and for). If you connect with any of it, or have something you’d like to add, I’d love to…
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Our insecurities and Jesus’ temptations
Hi friends, Prompted by church and church small group in the last week or so, I’ve been thinking about the temptations of Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 4:1-11. I explored one angle on these temptations last year, over at Feminism and Religion, in a piece called The Gendered Temptation of Jesus (based on Luke’s version…
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Super chill book review part 2: The Will to Change (bell hooks)
This is part 2 (of 2) of some reflections on bell hooks’ The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. Here’s part 1 if you missed it or want a refresher. The Will to Change was also very much on my mind as I was writing this essay, posted yesterday at Feminism & Religion: The…
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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…