church

Making space for something Else

Last week, I posted a version of an article that I wrote for the Hamline Church newsletter in December. The topic was being a Godbearer in Advent, on pausing to make room to be an incarnation of God in our daily lives. This idea is inspired by The Godbearing Life, by youth ministry extraordinaire Kenda Creasy Dean.

Now, though, as I think more about it, and as we approach the third week of Advent, there’s more to be said.

Being a Godbearer is making space for God to enter into the world through us. Now more so than ever, I think, with the rage and outcry over the grand jury decisions in the Eric Garner and Michael Brown cases, we are called to make space for a new thing to happen in us.

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By Maggie, ago

Sermon from 8/3: The Five Loaves and Two Fish

Here is the sermon I preached at The Clare this morning on the feeding of the five thousand found in Matthew. You can get the readings here.

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One of my favorite made-up words in the English Language is the word hangry.

I love this word because it is a simple smushing of two words together, which–when combined–perfectly describe a state of being that is both hungry and angry, and yet a phenomenon all of its own.

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By Maggie, ago

Thoughts on Palm Sunday

This Sunday was Palm Sunday, and in liturgical church traditions, it’s one of the weirder ones. It’s heavy with emotion, full of the ups and downs of a nonsensical, wild faith.

We start outside the church building, singing an ancient hymn and waving branches around like our ancient stories tell us the people of Jerusalem did. The whole congregation stood out in a city park–this morning being the first warm morning in God knows how long, here in Chicago. The air was humid and smelled like rain, but the wind was hot to us and dusty. (more…)

By Maggie, ago