Author: LAMPomrenke

Churches won't provide the therapy necessary for children of God to pursue healthy, healing relationships with God the Parent – unless we are ready to engage in confession ourselves.

When we met our oldest daughter for the first time, we brought her a small stuffed bunny. We called him Krolik, because that's the Polish word for rabbit. Adoption from a Hague Convention country such as Poland requires at least 2 visits: the first to meet and agree to adopt the child, the second to… Continue reading The Feast of Saint Krolik

God lives here now. In this body, these bodies. God is aching with tired muscles and catching the flu and detecting cancerous cells and over-eating and going senile. God is in danger of being shot. God is denied advancement because the body God lives in has a uterus. God is starving this very body, because… Continue reading God Is In This Body

John 15:13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. This congregation is in a very specific moment, for which Valentine's on Ash Wednesday is the perfect weird combination. In re-development, you are invited to lovingly embrace the death that leads to resurrection. Maybe it will be the… Continue reading No Greater Love Than This: Ash Wed in a Congregation Awaiting Re-development

This stole carries a lot of transitions. I wore it – white side out – today for Transfiguration. By (Ash) Wednesday I will turn it over for purple, the color of Lent. Today I read the Gospel when Jesus' robes were turned dazzling white, and God spoke directly to the inner circle of disciples saying,… Continue reading Both sides of the stole

You know what is deadly to God's work in the world or in us? Pretending we're good, or okay even.

Four days after Christmas, our 3-year-old read aloud her new book from the back seat of our car. Except she can't read; she had memorized Rosie Revere, Engineer. Now, our youngest daughter is a book lover of the highest order, and I'd already read this delightfully rhyming book to her at least a dozen times… Continue reading Might I suggest: Phoebe Finster, Minister?

Twelfth Night used to be a big deal. Although singing a carol about “The Twelve Days of Christmas” could bring the full length of the season to our attention, I had no idea that people used to celebrate Twelfth Night as a significant holiday. I stumbled upon this fact while reading some history of Regency… Continue reading Twelfth Night!

“Oh, people know what we mean.” “You're being too sensitive.” It is hard to be corrected on the words we use, or words we've always used, without feeling defensive. Yet words are incredibly important, when we are trying to convey the love of the Word Made Flesh. Jesus chose his words carefully, and even accepted… Continue reading Word Choice