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Daring to Live Again
A sermon on Job 42:1-6, 10-17 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo by Samuel Clara on Unsplash.] Last month, my son, Quinn, used the Cinderella fairy tale to help us all to better understand the story of Esther, drawing our attention to the contrast between Cinderella’s “happily ever after” that resulted from marrying her prince, compared with Esther’s crisis that came after her royal wedding. If I can be a bragging mom for a second, it was a great sermo
The Faithfulness of Lament
A sermon on Job 23:1-9, 16-17 [For an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo by Kat J on Unsplash]. As a pastor, I have the incredible privilege of sitting with people in their moments of doubt, confusion, and pain. If you have ever let me sit with you, I thank you for that trust. If we haven’t shared that space yet, know that my door is open. I can’t say these conversations are exactly fun, but they are something that I deeply value. It is a gift of incredible tru
Welcome to a Scraping Faith
A sermon on Mark 10:2-16, and Job 1:1, 2:1-10 [Photo by Ashkan Forouzani on Unsplash] The last section of today’s gospel reading is just the kind of story we like to hear on a baptism Sunday, isn’t it? We can picture the scene in Precious Moments pastels: Jesus in a white robe fondly holding a smiling child on his knee with one arm while the other extends to welcome more. We can hear the gentle rebuke in his voice as he instructs his disciples to “let the little children come
Guest Sermon: Quinn Rice preaches on Esther as the Anti-Fairytale
A sermon on Esther 7:1-6, 9-10 You have probably all heard the story of Cinderella. A poor orphaned girl wants to go to a ball, but she can’t because of her cruel step-mother. Fortunately for Cinderella, her fairy godmother swoops in to save the day. She gives her beautiful clothes and sends her off to the ball, where Cinderella wins the heart of the prince and lives happily ever aftern. That’s where the story of Cinderella ends. But, that’s where the story of Esther begins.
Growth > Fear
A sermon on Mark 9:30-37 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here. Photo by Neuvalence on Unsplash] I had a disheartening experience this week with someone in an online group for pastors. (Spoiler alert, pastors are people too.) The context of the encounter was a post from one of the members asking for prayer connected with the accidental death of a young trans man whose family refused to recognize his name or pronouns. It was a heart-breaking situation on many leve
