Good morning!  Happy Tuesday! Today’s Readings: Psalm 146, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28, Luke 21:29-38 “We all pray whether we think of it as praying or not.  The odd silence we fall into when something very beautiful is happening, or something very good or very bad.  The ah-h-h! that sometimes floats up out of us as out…

And here we are in the second week of Advent!    Today’s Readings: Psalm 122, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, Matthew 3:1-12 Reading Matthew’s version of John out in the wilderness sent me directly back to my trip in Israel/ Palestine this morning.  I went to the Middle East during my first year of appointed ministry.  Jim,…

Good morning!  Today’s Readings: Isaiah 42:1-7, Matthew 11:2-11 For new readers, because it is Sunday there is a shorter but poignant devotional.  Today I will be preaching on embracing dark: hoplessness.  This has been an interesting sermon to write and I hope that perhaps you will listen to the podcast later.  Just go to http://www.mac-coop.org…

Buenos Dias!  Today’s Readings: Psalm 90, Isaiah 4:2-6, Luke 21:5-19 Fridays are my days off. Usually I write in the morning, devotional, sermon, emails, liturgy and then I play during the rest of the day.  Of course, there might also be picking up the house, reading lots, etc.  Yesterday the day came out in abundance…

  Good morning everyone!    Today’s Readings: Psalm 102, 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12, Luke 20:41-21:4    Today’s Luke passage is about Jesus’ authority yet again being questioned and while he is teaching a perfect example comes his way about the role of the giver.  While he talks about being aware of those who talk the talk and don’t…

Good morning! Happy birthday to Jim Fellers! Hooray! Today’s Readings: Psalm 18:1-20, Isaiah 2:5-22, 1 Thessalonians 3:1-13, Luke 20:27-40  My friend and colleague Karen Shimer got me to thinkin the other day.  She gave a great and thoughtful meditation on perspective in our colloquy.  Karen is the pastor in Canby and is a God-filled type…

Hey all! Today’s Readings: Psalm 50, Isaiah 2:1-4, Luke 20:19-26     If you have a few moments check out this video.  The video itself is 5 minutes but if you watch even the first few minutes you will get the idea.  This is from one of my favorite groups called Improv Everywhere.  If you have…

Good morning! Today’s readings: Psalm 33, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12, Luke 20:9-18 An excerpt from Kate Braestrup in her book “Beginner’s Grace:” Grace, prayer or blessing: These are moments to pause and make room in life for clarity, attention and gratitude.  The problem is that a lamentably inattentive person like me needs some sort of external…

Good Morning! Today’s readings: Psalm 122, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10, Luke 20:1-8 For the past couple of days I have taken a bit of vacation.  I didn’t do anything really spectacular…in fact it was more of a Staycation.  On Wednesday I slept in, puttered around, read a lot, went to the gym and just was.  On…

Good morning all! Our Advent begins here… Today’s Lectionary: Romans 13:11-14, Matthew 24:36-44 “The house lights go off and the footlights come on. Even the chattiest stop chattering as they wait in darkness for the curtain to rise. In the orchestra pit, the violin bows are poised. The conductor has raised his baton. In the…