Our National Infertility Week series continues today. (Did you miss the post from Chris Thomas earlier? If so, stop now and read it here). I’m so glad to introduce you to Maren McLean Persaud, my new favorite Canadian who tells a story of hope, longing and loss. Here are her beautiful words- _______________ This past fall, we …
Easter
A Resurrection Pilgrimage
What did you do to celebrate Easter this weekend? I went to Oklahoma. When I found out I wasn’t preaching this Easter (which of course made me sad but is just a par for the course in a free-range pastor life), I knew I needed to do help our family plan something special. I wanted …
Don’t Hold on to Me
How was Easter just last Sunday? I don’t know about you but for me the emotion, the pace and even the struggle of my Lent discipline feel many moons ago this week . . . as do the moments of singing with gusto “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?” and “Christ, the Lord is …
The Best News Nobody Believed
A Sermon for Easter from Luke 24:1-12 Preached at Springfield Christian Church, Springfield, VA When we think of Easter the words, “an average ordinary day” do not come to mind, do they? Nope, we think of new clothes. We think of bunnies. We think of chocolates in the shape of a crosses (which of course …
Stuck in Holy Saturday
For years, Holy Saturday was my every day. I knew all too well the death of Good Friday. Easter had not yet come. Pain, loss and more pain and loss. Kicks in the gut. No obvious way out. No clear path about the future. Days when I didn’t know how to get out of bed. I …
Church, It’s Your Week to Shine!
For all of us whose lives are firmly planned in the church, there’s one week of the year that exhausts us more than any other. And it’s this one. Holy Week. Extra services to plan. Extra crowds to usher. Extra bulletins to print. Sadly, it’s the time of year that clergy complain most about. Or church …
A Post-Resurrection Hangover
A sermon preached at Federated Church: John 20:19-31 I don’t know about you, but when I have something really big happen to me, what usually follows is a hangover. I don’t mean a literal drunken hangover (well, maybe it has happened before), but an emotional one where I have to take a step back and …
The Pictures We Post Online
It was a online cute photo fest over the weekend, wasn’t it? The sweetest family photos we’ve ever seen at church, children decked out sitting next to the Easter bunny, and even grown-ups too posting pictures of themselves hiding eggs in their backyard. Beautiful dresses at church. Children in green yards holding Easter baskets. And …
Easter that Outlives the Day
No matter if we express them or not, Easter is full of expectations. If you attend church on Easter, you might expect to see some fine dressed folks—it’s the Sunday best of the Sunday best day of the year, isn’t? You might have expected to see more people in the pews than on a more …
Showy Faith?
Back for my birthday in February, I got a new toy: a Fitbit. It’s a activity tracker that I wear on my body at all possible times. Kevin already had one for a couple of weeks. A true competitor at heart, I happily accepted the gift and the challenge of walking my way to a more …
Not That Kind of Christian Part 2
This is the second part in a series. If you missed the first entry begin by reading here. It all started on Easter Sunday morning– the most joyous day of the Christian year and I was not excited about getting out of bed. It took Kevin almost an hour to move me. The problem was …
If I Were Preaching Easter
Every year when I was a preaching pastor, I felt the anxiety rise the closer we got to Easter Sunday morning. The expectations. The crowds. The desire of the people to hear something new and meaningful. Though I had a mentor once tell me don’t sweat it, just tell the story. The problem is that …
