Look at their hands–a sermon preached by Annalise Clausen
“Wake up now, look alive, for here is a day off work just to praise Creation: the turkey, the squash, and the corn, these things that ate and drank sunshine, grass, mud, and rain, and then in the shortening days laid down their lives for our welfare and onward resolve. There’s the miracle for you, […]
Food for the journey
For over sixty years M.F. K Fisher wrote about food, cooking and eating as human and cultural metaphors. She published fifteen books and many essays. One of her stories appeared in her book, The art of eating, in which she remembered a dinner shared with her father and younger sister that even 25 years later […]
Your faith has made you well.
O LORD my God, I cried out to you, * and you restored me to health. (Psalm 30 verse 2) A week ago, last Wednesday night, a group of Christians gathered after what had been a very long day to study scripture. The Rev. Clementa Pinckney had driven a little more than 2 hours to […]
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble
In his book Fatherneed, Yale University child psychologist Kyle Pruett notes that children whose fathers are deeply involved in their lives do better in school. Toddlers with involved fathers are better prepared to handle the stresses and frustrations associated with schooling than children whose fathers are less involved. And young men need dads who are […]
For the Love of Christ urges us on
Although the story happened many years before I came to be with you, it has been told to me several times as it conveys who we seek to be and what we seek to do as God’s people here at Grace Church. Apparently it was a normal Sunday morning. The adults were in worship and […]
God as Divine Community
To the Holy Spirit that sanctifies us, with the Father that made and created us, and the Son that redeemed us, be given all honour and glory, world without end. Amen In speaking with children about God and who God is in their lives, I came across a series of books written by Rabbi Sandy Sasso. […]
What Does it Mean to be Church?
Oh, God, take our minds and think through them, take our lips and speak through them, and take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. Today we celebrate Pentecost–the day in our church when we celebrate God’s Spirit coming to dwell within the hearts and minds of the people. The miracle of Pentecost […]
Jesus Prays for Us
Today we come to the last Sunday in Easter. Throughout these 50 days we have reflected through scripture and music and prayer on the presence of the risen Christ, seeking him in our lives and in the world. Today we find ourselves in this transition time where in the Gospel reading, Jesus prays for his […]
Beloved, let us love one another
The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek the LORD shall praise him: * “May your heart live for ever!” Today we hear in our Gospel reading from John, the final “I am” statement from Jesus. It is a part of Jesus’ farewell to his beloved followers. He has washed their […]
Jesus himself stood among the disciples
Know that the LORD does wonders for the faithful; * when I call upon the LORD, he will hear me. I had been at work as a chaplain on the pediatric oncology floor at the Children’s Hospital in Austin Texas for about two weeks. I was beginning to learn the names of the nurses who […]