Claimed, gathered and sent

One small thing we can do to work for peace. PeaceofJerusalem.org

A Place for Prayer: Advent Prayer Amen.

Sounds like it has potential. I'm signing up for it. Monk in the World: Free E-Course « Abbey of the Arts

A retreat we can participate in from our homes. RevGalBlogPals: Virtual Advent Retreat Part One

This is the message I shared with the people of Grace Lutheran Church, Petersburg, WV. The gospel text is Matthew 24:36-44 . How many of us have taken road trips with small children? What is the universal question all children ask? “Are we there yet?” It might as well be an eternity before they arrive at grandma and grandpa’s or whatever the destination. I don’t like to wait either. When Ray and I are on a long trip, we have our GPS on the dash and it displays our expected arrival time at our destination. I must admit that I get a certain pleasure if traffic is moving along and we’re making good time and seeing the time get earlier, even by a minute or two. This is one type of waiting, but there are other kinds that are not as pleasant. It’s not easy to wait for medical test results, especially if something is wrong. We worry and are scared of the unknown. If we can at least name it, we can begin to deal with it. It is the unknown that is so hard to handle. Early in this chapter of

Last night I had the privilege of leading and preaching at a Thanksgiving eve service at Zion Lutheran Church, Baker, WV. It was the first time in many years this church has had a Thanksgiving service. This is the message I shared with them: The text is John 6:25-35.             Some of us have memories of wonderful family gatherings at Thanksgiving, like you would see in a Norman Rockwell picture. Among the memories, may be that of going around the table with everyone saying what they are thankful for. It’s a lovely tradition. Those are not among my memories of Thanksgiving growing up, however. My family was not religious and didn’t go to church. It wasn’t even much of a special day when I was a child, except that we ate different food. As we gather around our tables tomorrow, what are we looking forward to? What makes Thanksgiving special for us? Is it for the special food that we so rarely have—pumpkin pie, turkey, homemade stuffing? Or is it the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Para

This is the message I preached this morning at Zion Lutheran Church, Baker, WV. Text: Col 1:11-20 Being a part of our household can be quite an adventure and you just never know where it may lead. Those who know me well know I am not the most graceful or coordinated person. Inanimate objects in our home also suffer the consequences of getting bumped, knocked over, dropped, and sometimes broken. We keep a good supply of duct tape, glue, and other adhesives in stock. Things can be repaired or replaced. Super Glue is a wonderful invention. But what about our hearts, our emotions, our families, our church? It is not so easy to fix them. Super Glue is fine for things, but what about OUR brokenness? We all have circumstances we encounter in life. Sometimes it just becomes too much and we feel hopeless. And we wonder where God is in all of it. It just isn’t supposed to happen like that. Parents lose a child. A long marriage dissolves in the pain of divorce. The poet William Butler Yeats ex