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Title: The miracle of communion
Date: May 31, 2009, Pentecost
Texts: Rom 8:22-27Rom 8:22-27English: Contemporary English Version (1999) – CEV22 We know that all creation is still groaning and is in pain, like a woman about to give birth.

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Sermon preparation…

First I read a bunch of the more interesting commentaries on the assigned lectionary passage. And usually nothing happens. No sermon ideas—although every once in a while a word or a phrase or a sentence triggers a sermon. After spending a day with the commentaries, I put their careful exegesis aside and take a [...]

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I wrote a short piece for The Mennonite. Here’s an excerpt:
Our Mennonite identity is always disturbed; the church is broken; our congregations are torn. People come and go. Disagreements reemerge and threaten to drive us apart. Congregations dissolve, and others are born.

The church is in a precarious state of unsettled tornness. That’s simply what it [...]

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Title: Abide in me
Texts: John 15:1-8John 15:1-8English: Contemporary English Version (1999) – CEVJesus Is the True Vine

1 Jesus said to his disciples:

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I wrote a short review of Hauerwas and Coles’ book from last year, Christianity, Democracy, and the Radical Ordinary (Cascade). It appears in the current issue of the Mennonite Weekly Review (May 4, 2009). Here’s an excerpt:
Politics involves all the ways we tend to the common good. This happens in our neighborhoods, not just in [...]

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Title: Who are you?
Date: May 3, 2009
Texts: Acts 4:5-12Acts 4:5-12English: Contemporary English Version (1999) – CEV5 The next morning the leaders, the elders, and the teachers of the Law of Moses met in Jerusalem.
6 The high priest Annas was there, as well as Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and other members of the high priest’s family.
7 They [...]

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