Author: LAMPomrenke

“Don't you want to have your own children?” someone asked me. I cannot fathom how my adopted daughter could feel any more “my own” than she does, or more beloved. “God has blessed us with another child.” she said. I smiled weakly, but because adoption is the lens through which I view the world, I… Continue reading Saints and Sinners, All of Us

John 9:1 Caleb could not see the scrolls to study the Torah, and he couldn't listen to any teaching in the synagogue because people associated his disability with sin. So he was no expert on theology. He could not recognize the people around him by sight, but couldn't identify them by voice either because they… Continue reading Attitudes Are the Real Disability – Sermon from 3/26/17

The meet-up was going fine. About half of the women knew each other already; they were friends of the woman at whose house we were meeting. There were a bunch of mothers of young children – some stay-at-home moms, and others who weren't - plus a couple from the generation above us. I didn't know… Continue reading Women’s March Huddle

Excerpt from my sermon on Luke 10 last June: We want to believe we would stop on the road, if we knew the person who was wounded was actually Jesus. He wants to get us close enough to tell that they are, so that we can respond with overwhelming love. Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, 5… Continue reading Samaritan Lives Matter

(Written in mid-January as my writing sample for this workshop: http://collegevilleinstitute.org/events/event/broader-public-2017/ ) I am relatively new to protesting. I've been to a few protests and rallies before, but I'm white, middle class, and under 40. I will always have more to unearth and examine, to fully understand my privilege. And so it is that the… Continue reading Protesting Like a Protestant

A Facebook friend shared a post by a young woman of color, talking about her perspective on the women's marches. My friend shared it just saying, "Amplifying". She was putting a voice that was not her own in front of people who might not otherwise hear it, because she recognized it mattered. My friend's witness… Continue reading Amplifying

Last summer I did a short-term pastor gig, bridging the time between an interim who had to leave on a specific date and the new called pastor. My first Sunday was the week after the Orlando night club shootings, followed too quickly by the police shooting of Philando Castile, in our own metro area on… Continue reading “Challenge Us” Pulpit Supply

I preached this sermon the week after the Orlando night club shootings, my first Sunday of 7 as a "bridge pastor" for the summer. It still seems painfully relevant. The Gospel was Luke 8: 26-39. This is a strange story, especially for us, especially this week. We are tempted to dismiss it as having no… Continue reading Demonizing the other