What I appreciate about Robert Frost’s poetry is the “rhythmic logic” that always seems to yield a kind of desperately honest beauty. Here is comes especially in two places. “And lonely as it is that loneliness / Will be more lonely ere it will be less” and...
8. Mark 14:12-16
posted by DJL
On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?” So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water...
When Do We Stop?
posted by DJL
I strongly encourage you to follow this link to a video posted by the Rev. LeeAnne Watkins, Rector of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in St. Paul, MN. I found it honest, poignant, painful, and in its own way beautiful because of the courage it took to share. Thank you, LeeAnne. It’s 6...
7. Mark 14:10-11
posted by DJL
Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. When they heard it, they were greatly pleased, and promised to give him money. So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him. This is one of the moments in Mark’s account not only...
The “Middle Zone” of Preaching
posted by DJL
As part of a grant project studying vibrant preaching, I had the chance recently to read over a) the results of a survey taken by more than a thousand people who regularly listen to sermons and b) the in-depth interviews given by about two hundred more. The results have been fascinating and I’m only just beginning to process them. But one thing already stands out: People want to understand why the biblical stories they hear read at church matter. Desperately. More than that, they want what happens on Sunday to matter throughout the week. When I processed this observation with a group of preachers participating in the study, one voiced the...