Luke 24:36b-48 Dear Partner in Preaching, It’s been a while since I’ve been able to post. A combination of my own work as a pastor and preacher at Mount Olivet, trying to navigate re-opening as conditions improve (and then worsen again), and the fact that we have opted for a more narrative approach to the lectionary have all conspired against posting as regularly as I would like. I am hoping to resume this discipline and dialogue with you but will make no promises. 🙂 For today, a few thoughts on Luke’s continuing story of Jesus post-resurrection appearances. The plural is key, as it is “appearances.” Luke offers by...
Advent 2 B: Just the Beginning
posted by DJL
Mark 1:1-8 Dear Partner in Preaching, I don’t know about you, but I find myself, during these weeks leading up to Christmas, simultaneously filled by the joy and anticipation of the season and…running pell-mell from one activity to another, barely on top of what’s coming next. This was somewhat true when I was a seminary prof, more true as a sem. president, and is even more the case now that I’m back in a parish. (I trust I’m not alone in this experience and that you probably know just what I mean!) And while it’s easy to forget amid all our various responsibilities, this combination of joyful celebration and slightly frenetic...
Advent
posted by DJL
I am a big fan of W. H. Auden’s poem For the Time Being. It’s more than a poem, of course, it’s a dramatic narrative, a poetic play, formally called an Oratorio. In fact, it’s called a Christmas Oratorio. And while I’ve always thought it reads a little better after Christmas –...
For The Time Being
posted by DJL
W. H. Auden’s long narrative poem “For the Time Being” is subtitled “A Christmas Oratio” because it focuses on the birth of Christ. But I’ve always thought it reads better after Christmas, sometime during the long winter that stretches into February (or, if you live in Minnesota,...
As I Walked Out One Evening
posted by DJL
There has been a lot written about W. H. Auden’s “As I Walked Out One Evening.” But rather than read or write about it, I invite you instead simply to listen to Auden himself recite it. As you do, the clash of themes – the power of love, the relentlessness of time, the beauty and fragility of being human – all emerge. Some poetry is as much meant to be heard as read, and I think this is one of those. Enjoy. As I walked out one evening, Walking down Bristol Street, The crowds upon the pavement Were fields of harvest wheat. And down by the brimming river I heard a lover sing Under an arch of the railway: ...