Monthly Archives: October 2015
This week as I sat listening to a friend share devastating medical news, I found myself unable to come up with any helpful or even appropriate response. Thoughts flashed through my mind as if on loop on a big movie screen: this is not fair; why is this happening?; this person is good and kind — not a person who deserves this. One after another, they came, pulling me into a cyclone of increasing… Read More
Losing My Religion: Who Will Save Your Soul? Job 38:1-21 You know what they say: “Be careful what you wish for!” Truer words were perhaps never spoken when it comes to today’s Hebrew text from the book of Job. Today is week three of a four week series called, “Losing My Religion,” where we’ve been making our way through the book of Job, some of the oldest text in our bibles,… Read More
Losing My Religion: True Colors Job 23:1-9, 16-17 “Instead of saying ‘God wouldn’t give you more than you could handle,’ you could say, ‘Let me come over and do some laundry.’” So begins an article entitled, “Stupid Phrases for People in Crisis.” In addition to the ever popular “more than you can handle” phrase, the author lists statements we often say when we encounter friends in crisis, consolations that fall flat in… Read More
Announced in worship on Sunday, October 4, 2015 following a mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon: Thursday’s shooting in Oregon was the 45th school shooting in America in 2015. I’ve read several times this quote: “In retrospect, Sandy Hook marked the end of the US gun control debate. Once America decided killing children was bearable, it was over.” I hope that’s not true. But it will be if people… Read More
Losing My Religion: The Sound of Silence Job 1:1; 2:1-10 I had just graduated from seminary, newly minted diploma in hand, off the save the world. Then, unexpectedly someone very dear to me died. The grief and pain of that loss overwhelmed me; I didn’t know how to handle the anger and denial and questions that seemed to be with me all of the time. I certainly didn’t know how I’d ever… Read More
Talk with the Preacher 