Re-Imagine Structure Psalm 126 Have you ever had a moment when you heard a song on the radio and a memory came rushing back?  This week I asked Carol Blythe if she had a memory of a moment marked by the singing of a particular song…of course she told me a story about one time that she and Rick and their girls were down at the Lincoln Memorial protesting one of the… Read More

Re-Imagine Mission Psalm 86 I wonder if any of you have ever heard the story about the young woman who, upon cooking her first ever baked ham cut the entire end off the ham before putting it in the pan to cook.  When she was asked why she cut off the end of the ham before cooking it she looked puzzled and said she didn’t know why, but that that was the… Read More

We’ve been lacking sanctuary for awhile around here.  Church has gone on every Sunday, of course, but for the second year in a row we’ve spent part of the summer worshipping outside our sanctuary.   It makes sense for us…DC becomes a ghost town for much of the summer every year…with so many folks in our church away, our 800 seat sanctuary begins to feel a bit, well, cavernous and empty.  When we… Read More

It is a stunningly gorgeous day outside, as it was eleven years ago.  Everything feels somber in this city, whose world was especially rocked by the 9/11 attacks.  I can’t think of generic words that might be appropriate this day, so maybe a prayer instead: O God,   We are busy, busy people.  We rush around in all our importance, making plans and setting goals, moving through life as if we control… Read More

Re-imagine Sanctuary Psalm 84 Welcome back to the sanctuary this morning.  We’ve been out for most of the summer and it feels good to be back, doesn’t it?  Today we begin a series in worship where we’re looking at the Israelites’ prayer book, the Psalms, and reimagining some of the thing we take for granted in our life together as the church.  Today we’re talking about sanctuary. Recently, after picking up a… Read More