A Day in Heaven by Shada Sullivan

 

 The form of heaven is utterly fluid and not at all resistant.

Secrets of Heaven 7068

 

Sometimes we have certain ideas about the way heaven is.  These ideas can inform how we think about the efficacy of love, and about the necessity of resistance and rigidity.  But what if our concepts of order require a little tweaking?  Is there something to be said about being “confidently yielding?”  God consistently turns our human ideas about strength upside-down.  What is he calling us to stand for?  Can Love really get the job done?  Originally preached in August 2012, this sermon explores the meaning of the passage Secrets of Heaven 7068. Read More

How did I end up in Theological School? by Theresa McQueen-Uber

How did I end up in theological school?

I was called. Early too. I remember talking to the Lord when I was about seven years old. I said “Lord, don’t give me a regular life.” I remember feeling like the Lord gave me a big hug. I was filled with the sense that if I were very brave and very patient, He had things for me to do. I have been looking for those things my whole life.

I consider myself to be incredibly blessed.  The home I grew up in offered a very rich religious environment. Both of my parents were active in the New Church. Important for me personally was also the fact that my grandfather, great uncle, two uncles, and ultimately four cousins, were ministers in this denomination. Read More

Being Broken Open by Anna Woofenden

“My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” Psalm 51:17

“Dance, when you’re broken open. Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you’re perfectly free.” –Rumi

It was a warm August evening, Seattle Washington warm that is, the breeze gracing the 75 degree mark, and I was sitting at Café Presse, trying to get some words on the page and write. I sit at a narrow bar, looking out through large plate glass windows to a crowded terrace, filled with couples, girls on an evening out, and what looks like a visit with out-of-town parents. A man pulls up on his bike, another cruises in behind him, they lock their bikes and make their way towards dinner or a glass of wine. A young mother walks by, ear buds in, 3-year-old daughter skipping along in tow. The sun is at that golden time and Indy music lilts in the background. Read More

An Unlikely Love Song by Rev. Leah Goodwin

Maybe Isaiah got the words wrong.

After all, this is not how love songs are supposed to go. Love songs are supposed to make us feel warm and beautiful and blessed, and sometimes teary. They are supposed to remind us of life’s goodness. Whether remembering the past or hoping for the future or just reflecting on the exquisitely tangible pleasures of the moment, love songs are supposed to be about the presence of joy, or at least the possibility of redemption. Read More