That's What She Said

Singing in the Dark 8/8 Carissa Robinson Simeon, Anna, and I can die now. Simeon is our final singer. He and Anna have waited many years, decades of waiting, for the fulfillment of one small piece of God’s big promise to redeem Israel and save the world. Waiting is a virtue, a practice, a skill that becomes a disposition for we who are tracing the long arc of the moral universe... (Carissa Robinso...

Singing in the Dark 7/8 Rev. Dr. Katie Hays Angels, shepherds, and all that had been told them. The angelic announcement (the third of four arias in this opera) stokes the shepherds’ curiosity, and they are the first “come and see” invitees. Do we imagine the angels only sang to these shepherds? Or did their song perhaps go to others who were not quite interested enough to drop everything and go?...

Singing in the Dark 6/8 Rev. Dr. Katie Hays Jesus: born under the boot of empire. Luke here situates Jesus’s birth in its political and economic contexts. Babies born now could be similarly announced: “When So-and-So was president, and So-and-So was governor of Texas; when interest rates were thus, and employment was such...” And what would it mean? If Jesus’s nativity happened now, where would it...

Singing in the Dark 5/8 Rev. Dr. Katie Hays John, Zechariah, and being filled with God’s Spirit. The songs we sing to our children matter. What are the melodies and lyrics we fill their imaginations with? Songs of longing and lament; songs of empowerment and good cheer; songs that transport our spirits into God’s good future – these are the songs we must sing for generations to come. To tell us yo...

Singing in the Dark 4/8 Rev. Dr. Katie Hays Elizabeth, Mary, and the strength of God’s arm. The story of sisterhood, and the subversive lullaby that rumbles up from Mary’s spirit after some time spent soaking up Elizabeth’s company, are scenes that ignite our own communal spirit. What happens, what becomes possible in your imagination, after spending time with someone who can help you see God’s fu...

Singing in the Dark 3/8 Rev. Dr. Katie Hays Gabriel, Mary, Joseph, and nothing is impossible with God. If Mary’s virginity means anything, it means that God bounds over obstacles to get what God wants. At the same time, God seeks consent for this particular intervention; Mary’s yes is imperative to the forward motion of the story and God’s incoming Presence. (Note: this is a very Mary-centric stor...

Singing in the Dark 2/8 Rev. Dr. Katie Hays Zechariah, Elizabeth, and what the Lord has done for me. Elizabeth’s “barrenness” was a source of shame (“disgrace”), the brokenness that we associate with bodies that don’t behave as they should according to norms we have inherited. Scripture often speaks of shameful bodies being liberated/received by God – eunuchs in Isaiah 56, for example. The incarna...

Singing in the Dark 1/8 Rev. Dr. Katie Hays Luke, Theophilus, and the well-ordered account. Luke’s gospel is epistolary, with an intended (if imagined) recipient, Theophilus (“Friend of God”). Luke acknowledges that there are competing narratives of “the events that have been fulfilled among us,” and offers his reporting as “well- ordered.” This is an important assertion: that Theophilus (and the...

Jesus for President 8/8 Rev. Dr. Katie Hays Love. The Sunday after our national elections, how does it look to proceed in the love that God calls us to, and upon which God’s empire is built? To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media:  Facebook ,  Twitter , and  Instagram . Or, email us the old-fashio...

Jesus for President 7/8 Rev. Dr. Katie Hays Give God what belongs to God. The Sunday before our national elections, let’s reflect on what we’re meant to release to the empire vs. what we give only to God. “Do not put your trust in princes” from Psalm 146 becomes “Do not put your trust in politicians.” To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment....

Jesus for President 6/8 Rev. Dr. Katie Hays The Son of Humanity in service. There’s no escaping the upside-down power structure of Jesus’s campaign (or God’s reign). Finally, it gets down to really small things, like who takes the trash out at the end of the night. To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media:  F...

Jesus for President 5/8 Carissa Robinson Beware of wealth, and redistribute it to dispel its power. In the tradition of the prophets, Jesus was suspicious of accumulated wealth, and urged his followers not to be trapped by it. Money demands loyalty (sweat, time, relationships, wellbeing...). God’s reign competes with money for our dependence and loyalty. Carissa Robinson is preaching. To tell us y...

Jesus for President 4/8 Rev. Dr. Katie Hays Light up each person’s dignity. In a training for non-violent, peacekeeping poll chaplains, a rabbi instructed us to “light up the dignity” of both perpetrators and targets of abuse. Jesus’s reversal of blindness sounds ableist to our ears, but what if we can see his work as lighting up the dignity of the shushed Bartimaeus? And what if that is Josh’s wo...

Jesus for President 3/8 Rev. Dr. Katie Hays Collaboration across difference. There’s no need, Jesus says, to fence off good work to ensure our exclusive claim to power. Good work happens in lots of places, apart from us, and it’s the goodness that matters, not who gets credit. Also, side note: stay salty, disciples. To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leav...

Jesus for President 2/8 Rev. Dr. Katie Hays Generational thinking. It’s not only trauma we pass on from generation to generation...it’s also the sequoias we’re planting now that will come to fruit only for our descendants. Jesus’s time is short, but his vision is long, and it begins with the snot-nosed kids right in front of him. To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web po...

Jesus for President 1/8 Rev. Dr. Katie Hays Abundance, abundantly clear. The age-old question regarding material resources: is there enough? or should we hoard and hand-wring, worrying that we’ll be left empty-handed? In the world Jesus is building, there is always enough if we trust God’s provision. To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment....

RRNBE • Final Week Rev. Dr. Katie Hays Getting Low, Saying Thanks. Real gratitude requires vulnerability. Paul alllllmost didn’t make it in his thank-you note to the Philippians. Rev. Dr. Katie Hays is back! To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media:  Facebook ,  Twitter , and  Instagram . Or, email...

RRNBE • Week 15 David Clarke Did Jesus Really Call the Syrophoenician Woman a B****? Or was something profound taking place as Jesus ceded power in the conversation to this foreign woman and allowed a historic breaking of glass ceilings and agency for all who are marginalized in the church and beyond. To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment....

RRNBE • Week 14 Rev. Yevette Christy Religious Loopholes: The Danger in Claiming Spiritual Exemptions. n this cluster of scripture from Mark, Jesus is letting the community know that those with religious/cultural power have been nullifying scripture, twisting commandments to benefit themselves and those who serve their purposes, and in 2024, this is a relevant message. Loopholes have always existe...

RRNBE • Week 13 Josh Bridges-Hickey The Armor of Each Other. The "Armor of God" has often been used as a weapon against us, and as a tool of empire. Is there a way to draw meaning from it still? Is there a useful ethic for approaching these militant texts in the midst of a violent empire? As always, we do it together. Josh Bridges-Hickey is preaching. To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click...

RRNBE • Week 12 David Clarke Which Jesus is on the Menu? How do the frequent metaphors in the scripture help us to transcend the literal and go deeper in our relationship with God. David specifically examines Jesus’ invitation to eat the bread and become intimately engaged with Jesus for our own growth and to better represent love and justice in the world around us. David Clarke is preaching. To t...

RRNBE • Week 11 Rev. Yevette Christy What’s your reason? We are required to love, serve, forgive, etc., well, all that good stuff is impossible when our “reason” is temporal, not organic or authentic, not focused on being an offering to God. We get tired when the energy behind our reason is solely our own and not God’s. What is your reason? Rev. Yevette Christy is preaching. To tell us your though...

RRNBE • Week 10 Rev. Remi Shores A Creed, A Preposition, and a Love Letter. Growing together as the body of Christ is a lifelong project that we can only do with the help and the faith of one another and of Christ Jesus. Together, we grow toward Christ, we grow toward one another, and we live lives worthy of the life to which we have been called. Rev. Remi Shores is preaching. To tell us your thou...

RRNBE • Week 9 Rev. Yevette Christy An Endless Thread . Love calls us through our knowledge, but ultimately that same love shatters our knowing and awakens us to something deeper, wider, more. Rev. Yevette Christy is preaching. To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media:  Facebook ,  Twitter , and&nbs...

RRNBE • Week 8 David Clarke Wrestling for Identity: Embracing the Limp. Life often presents us with struggles, some of our own making, but often, as in the case of the story of Jacob in Genesis, they present an opportunity to wrestle through a divine encounter and find ourselves different on the other side.  We may walk with a limp, but our journey has found new direction.  It is not how...