February 24, 2013, The Rev Doyt Conn preaching
We start off the Old Testament reading today in a swirl of anxiety. The story of Abraham begins with the phrase “After these things,” which indicates to us a lack of clarity around something that has just happened, and a measure of uncertainty about how to move forward. “After these things” is our equivalent to, “What was that all about?”
January 20, 2013 The Rev Kate Wesch preaching
It was late and we were both tired, but I knew we might be there for hours, so on the way out the door I grabbed a book. I was reading Anne Lamott’s new book, a slim volume, called, “Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers.” In her typical style of lengthy run-on sentences filled with self-deprecating humor, raw honest emotion, and startling insight, Lamott focuses in on these three repeating themes of prayer: Help, Thanks, Wow.
December 24, 2012 The Rev Kate Wesch preaching
Merry Christmas! Tonight, at this darkest time of year, we pierce the night with millions of pinpoints of light – with candles in church and on table where families gather, with light on our Christmas trees and front porches, and lawns lit up in colorful array. We wrap ourselves in the darkness like a blanket and gaze steadily out at the light on the horizon, knowing that spring must come. Christmas is about that hope, the longing for light.
December 2, 2012, The Rev Doy Conn preaching
Waiting, I think, makes an event all the sweeter. Waiting increases our sense of thanksgiving and gratitude. There was a day when waiting was more thoroughly woven into the rhythms of life. We waited for crops to come in. We waited for snow to melt and the salmon to run. We waited for fruits or vegetables to be in season. We waited to have enough money to buy something we couldn’t afford. We even waited for the appropriate night to watch our favorite TV show. Now we just Tevo it. Now we write the waiting out of the story of our lives and I sense we are diminished because of it.
November 4, 2012 Evensong, The Rev Kate Wesch preaching
The days falling between October 30 and November 2, encompassing Halloween, All Saints’ Day, and All Souls’ Day, have been set aside as sacred in the thoughts of my heart for many years now.
November 4, 2012, Charissa Jones preaching
Our society has a strange fondness for spooky and ghoulish things, and so I noticed this Halloween that for yet another year zombies were all the rage. The interesting thing is that last week I’d been feeling like a zombie
June 10, 2012, The Rev Doyt Conn preaching
In the movie The Color Purple Shug and her friend Celie are walking through a field of purple cosmos. Shug is saying, “But more than anything God loves admiration.” Celie responds, “so, you’re saying God is vain?” “No, no, not vain,” Shug laughs,“just wanting to share a good thing.” She continues, “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field and don’t notice it.” Celie responds, “So you’re just saying God wants to be loved like it says in the bible. “Yah, silly,” Shug replies, “everyone wants to be loved.”
April 29th, 2012, Rev. Doyt Conn preaching
We have a salamander in the basement. There is some debate as to his name. I call him Slinky. My son calls him Sandy. My daughter, the driving force for our possessing a salamander in the first place, has yet to commit to a name.
April 8th, 2012, Rev. Doyt L Conn, Jr preaching
Country singer, Butch Hancock use to say:
“Growing up a Christian in Lubbock Texas taught me a lot about God.
I learned that I was going to hell, and God loved me.
And I learned that intimacy was a dirty and filthy thing
that should be saved for someone I loved.”