A sermon preached at Southminster in Boise, Idaho on December 21, 2014 2 Samuel 7:1-11 Luke 1:26-38 (Here’s the video we showed in worship today). King David wanted to build a Temple for God. The Ark of the Covenant was being moved around the countryside, from town to town, but living in a tent, while…
Christmas is in a week. Everyone seems overbooked and overwhelmed. Many of my clergy friends are barely hanging in there. Getting ready for the extra services is just one of a pastor’s worries in these dark days of December. I’m praying with and for my friends as they provide pastoral care to those who grieve…
Today is my “Adoption Birthday”, the day my family adopted me and brought me home. I was a month and two days old. I’m sure it all became legal some months down the road, but December 14 has always been my day to celebrate. Mere mortals get only one birthday. Awesome adopted children get two.…
I’ve not blogged about Ferguson (or any of the many other situations in the news that reveal the way our culture still has so many racial divides). Partly, it’s because I have no idea what to say. Also, I’m a white woman in Idaho. What in the world do I know about racial tensions? Nothing.…
A sermon preached at Southminster’s Sabbath Service on November 22, 2014 Ruth 1:1-19 Tonight we are at the end of a church year. Each liturgical year starts with the first Sunday of Advent, so this is New Year’s Eve for church. A time to pause and reflect on the year that has been and a…
This is part of the liturgy we are doing tonight at Sabbath Worship. In place of the usual Confession sequence, we will be reading this, responsively: Sacrament of Letting Go by Macrina Wiederkehr Slowly she celebrated the sacrament of letting go. First she surrendered her green, then the orange, yellow, and red finally she…
Take a moment and watch this video. I absolutely love it. My STAR word this year has been pleasure. And I thought of my word when I watched the above video. For me, this year, pleasure has seemed to locate itself in my embodied existence. I tend to take being embodied for granted. I don’t…
Judges 2:6-12, 16-19 A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho November 16, 2014 In our Year of the Bible readings, you won’t read the Book of Judges until Advent, so I’m preaching it a little early. But I wanted us to spend some time with this book. Judges helps us see a…
This is a short essay I wrote for a collection of writings in celebration of Coleen Grissom’s 80th birthday. Coleen was Dean of Students (and then Vice President for Student Affairs) at Trinity University. I’m very grateful for her presence in my life. She was one of the best professors I had (and that is…
This Veteran’s Day I’m thankful for one veteran in particular, my birth father, Clinton Kenneth McCourt. After Pearl Harbor in Dec 1941, he like many of his generation, answered the call of the nation and joined the Navy a few months later, serving in the Philippines. Before I’d learned my birth father’s name, I’d suspected…
Glass Overflowing 