A Lenten Devotion by Rev. Debbie Clark Do not fear, O soil; be glad and rejoice, for God has done great things! Do not fear, you animals of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit, the fig tree and vine give their full yield. Joel 2:21-22 Every time I […]
Shining
Matthew 17:1-21 It was still dark as we climbed the stairs onto the flat rooftop. We laid out our mats and stood still as statues, facing east. Slowly, we raised our arms to the heavens. Even more slowly we lowered them in an arc, bending down to touch the concrete roof. We continued with the […]
Redefining Perfection
Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Matthew 5:21-26, 43-48 I have this image in my mind of the Sermon on the Mount; I don’t know where it comes from. Gentle Jesus is sitting cross-legged on top of a hill. His followers are seated around him—crowds that extend all the way down the hill. Jesus has a tender, compassionate look […]
Lenten Devotionals 2020
A Grove of Trees Again, this year, Edwards Church will create our own Lenten Devotional, with a reflection available each day during Lent (via email, paper, Facebook, and on the website). We need your creativity to make this happen! Your reflections could be in the form of a prayer, a poem, a paragraph, a photograph, […]
Absorb, Reflect, Refract
Isaiah 58:1-12; Matthew 5:13-16 “I am profoundly religious. My faith is at the heart of who I am.” On Wednesday, Senator Mitt Romney of Utah introduced his explanation of his impeachment trial vote with these words about his faith. He went on to say that he takes an oath made before God to be “enormously […]
Torn Open
Isaiah 64:1-12; Matthew 3:13-17 “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down.” Isaiah–probably the prophet we call 3rd Isaiah–wrote these anguished words in a time of national crisis, about 530 years before Jesus. The leaders of Judea had suffered in exile in Babylon, what is now Iraq, for a half century. The […]
The Angel of Disruption
Luke 1:5-20; Luke 1:26-38 Zechariah had a good life. Good–but not what he had expected. Good–but only after decades of working to claim the goodness. Zechariah and Elizabeth were old. They had not been able to have a child. In biblical times, infertility was a source of tremendous grief and pain, as couples who were […]
Made Whole
Luke 17:11-19 The last time the ten lepers would have seen a priest was probably the day they were cast out. In Jesus’ time, when a priest diagnosed someone with leprosy, there was a funeral-like ritual to acknowledge that they would no longer be part of their families or community. It’s hard for me to […]
A Win-Win Shopping Expedition–with Santa on a Fire Truck
“Food, fun, gifts for family and friends,” Rev. Dr. Fran Bogle begins. “That’s why I love the Gifts that Give Holiday Fair.” Bogle has been part of the fair for the last six years, hosting a table to raise money for the Just Peace Players, a peace and justice drama group. She’s also been an […]
Bold Hope
Ephesians 1:15-19; Acts 4:23-31 I was afraid I didn’t have it in me this time around. I had just been alerted to a breaking news article–revelations of racist and homophobic texts written by coaches in the Framingham Youth Football League. The texts, included in the article with portions blacked out, were extreme in the ways […]