Easter 7 A – Important Interludes

John 17:1-11 Acts 1:6-14 Dear Partner in Preaching, I don’t often try to preach on more than one passage at a time. I like diving a little deeper into a single story and worry about forcing associations between texts. But from time to time, the passages or context entice me to pull together themes from a couple of the readings, and this is one of those weeks. This time, it’s both the passages (John 17 and Acts 1) and the context (Memorial Day weekend). Here’s what I’ve been thinking: Both passages describe an interlude – a period of waiting and transition. In John, it’s the waiting between all Jesus has done up to now (across...

Grass May25

Grass

Carl Sandburg’s poem “Grass” seems a fitting poem for this Memorial Day weekend precisely because he reminds us how quickly we forget the sacrifices of the fallen. Each battle, let alone each war, robs us of the strength, the potential, and the future of so many people. We pause on...

War Is Kind: A Poem for Memorial Day May26

War Is Kind: A Poem ...

Stephen Crane made his literary mark at age 23 with his brilliant book on war, The Red Badge of Courage. Though he was rejected for service for poor health, Crane saw more than his fair share of the horrors of war as a correspondent covering conflicts in Greece, Puerto Rico, Spain, and Cuba....