Sometimes I find out just how angry people are. Sometimes I make the mistake of reading the comments. Facebook posts these days are so frequently about wearing masks, or about churches being open, or about opening businesses, or about keeping them closed. Even reading just those posts can sometimes remind me of the anger, but … Continue reading Sometimes Despair
After an unconscionably long hiatus, Pinewood Men return with a new film for 2020. The conceit of this video, if you're wondering, is that the two actors each wrote half a conversation, and recorded themselves speaking it, each knowing nothing about what the other would be saying. It was left to me to piece together … Continue reading The Gruberman (Film)
This is an adapted version of the sermon I preached this morning, the Fifth Sunday in Lent. You can view this sermon, along with the whole service, if you like, at Prince of Peace Ev. Lutheran Church's website. The gospel reading was John 11:1-45. "Lazarus, come out!" Don’t you wish that someone would call your … Continue reading The Raising of a Trauma (Sermon)
I started this series of blog posts back in January, to share a little bit about the process I'm in right now of getting my book Darkwater published. At the beginning of January, I shared the story of submitting it to various publishers, and how it was eventually picked up by Boyle & Dalton. At … Continue reading Slow Telling of a Story 3: Reeling
This is an adapted form of the sermon I preached this morning, the Fourth Sunday in Lent. Again, because of the COVID-19 threat, worship was done not in person but through an online pre-recorded video. You can view that here. The gospel reading was John 9:1-41. That was another long reading. But I actually think … Continue reading Where is God in THIS? (Sermon)
This is an adapted version of the sermon I preached today, the Third Sunday in Lent. The gospel reading was John 4:5-42. On account of the COVID-19 outbreak, we did not hold regular worship today. Instead, we filmed a version of worship with just a musician, an assisting minister, and me, and shared it via … Continue reading Filling Our Jar (Sermon)
This is an adapted form of the sermon I preached this morning, the First Sunday in Lent. The gospel text was Matthew 4:1-11. So Jesus had a party for his baptism. But it wasn’t like the parties that my wife and I hosted for our kids’ baptisms. Shortly after our daughter Zoe was baptized, we … Continue reading Tempting the Church (Sermon)
