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Proper 15A: Look Who’s Missing From Isaiah 56!
Context The Hebrew scripture this week is Isaiah 56:1, 6-8. These four verses affirm that God’s covenant with humanity includes people from all nations. The passage provides the foundation for a theologically sound sermon on justice and kindness toward foreigners. That’s a great and important message. But what happened to verses 2-5? Why did the…
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Proper 14A: An Ally for Joseph
Context This lectionary reading from the Hebrew scriptures (Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28) recounts the story of Jacob’s favorite son, Joseph; the special garment Jacob gave to Joseph; his brothers’ hatred for him; and the violence committed against him by his brothers when they sold him into slavery. Notice that the Lectionary chose to leave out the…
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Trinity Sunday Year A: God of Many Names
“The church has largely settled on one way of naming God to our great poverty. The blessed, holy Trinity is one way and only one way of naming the God of many names.” ~ Wil Gafney Context Lectionary texts: Genesis 1:1–2:4a; Psalm 8; 2 Corinthians 13:11–13; Matthew 28:16–20 Trinity Sunday is the second Sunday in…
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Special Sunday: Native American Ministries
“This [Two-Spirit] identity predates the birth of Christ. It has and will always exist. This identity is ancient.” ~ Bobby Sanchez (Instagram: @bobbysanchezmusic) Context Native American Ministries Sunday is a Special Sunday in The United Methodist Church, occurring each year on the third Sunday of Easter. This is an opportunity not only to provide financial…
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Queering Hymns & Spiritual Songs
Effective worship communicates “the story of God’s ongoing relationship with humanity…enabling the congregation to see themselves as part of this story.” ~Ruth C. Duck Context All those who follow in the way of Jesus are called to become more like him, our actions infused with Divine Love that draws others to know God for themselves.…
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Queering the Liturgy: FAQs
“Finding resonances in a world and a church that was not made for you is the daily work of LGBTQ+ people. The good news is ‘Seek, and ye shall find.’” ~Keegan Osinski What is Liturgy? Liturgy is a broad word for all the planned activities in a worship service. Its literal meaning is “the work…
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Redeeming Bathsheba: A Feminist Interpretation
This 12-minute video was a project for my Public Theology class. Here, I challenge the traditional tropes that portray Bathsheba as seductive and adulterous, digging into the often overlooked evidence that her encounter with David was sexual assault.
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Bomb | Balm | Bloom
Christians should be talking less about punishment and more about flourishing. If you’ve hung around churches that talk about “getting saved,” you and I share a common language. Have you been saved? is a familiar question to us. In those churches, the typical story of how we obtained salvation was this: We were born with…
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“Blessed are those who defend their rights,” said nobody, ever.
This week, I have been thinking hard about the self-identified Christians making news. Some believe their religious freedom is under attack. They are fighting back by seeking to legalize discrimination. I was actually going to write an entire post about that issue today. Then, I saw this news story. Priests in the Ukraine are leaving their opulent…
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Jennifer Noricks 