By Heather Carlson

• More Than a Prophet by Heather Carlson (6/12/2013)
  Fourth Sunday after Pentecost Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time 2 Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-15 Galatians 2:15-21 Luke 7:36-8:3 I live in a small city that loves to fund raise with lavish galas. The nails get polished and the clothes are glamorous. The food is decadent and the entertainment stunning. For a few hours this jeans-only oil town puts on the Ritz. And people want to know who is going; facebook, twitter and local gossip heats up. Will the beloved mayor be there? How about the multimillionaire industry leaders? Are there national and international celebrities coming to town? It makes ...
• Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! by Heather Carlson (3/21/2013)
  Palm Sunday Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-29 Luke 19:28-40 Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! These celebratory words plunge us into Palm Sunday pageantry: greens waving, draped cloaks, children processing, and hosannas resounding. Six weeks into Lent, we may be looking for an escape. We hear the cry, "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!" and we catch a brief glimpse of Jesus as coming king. Finally there is light in the darkness! The crowds that gathered some 2000 years ago are also relieved; it's not simply six weeks from which they seek reprieve, but a lifetime (and an ancestry) of heaviness, oppressi...
• Risky Waters by Heather Carlson (1/10/2013)
  Baptism of the Lord Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 Since leaving the pulpit three years ago to be a full time homemaker, our family has had more opportunity to worship with diverse strands of the Christian church and witness the baptisms of family, friends and strangers. Immersion, sprinkling, hot tubs, porcelain shells, flowing gowns, bathing suits, candles, vows, handshakes, testimonies, processions, and creeds. There is no standard form in which baptism is celebrated, and just below the surface a great deal of history about how we have fought and killed one another over the rite. When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. (NIV) It strikes me that Jesus isn't alone. The...
• First Things First by Heather Carlson (10/31/2012)
  Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Psalm 146 Mark 12:28-34 "I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them: 1) To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy. 2) To speak no evil of the person they voted against. 3) To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side." -John Wesley, October 6, 1774 On most Christian calendars, this Sunday is the 23rd after Pentecost. Those with longer historical roots may also mark November 4 as All Saint's Sunday. I suspect, however, in many a preacher and ...
• The Heart of the Matter by Heather Carlson (8/30/2012)
  Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 The Pharisees have travelled from Jerusalem out to the region of Lake Galilee to find Jesus, but this is not a spiritual pilgrimage. We quickly discover they have come to find fault: "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" Isn't it interesting that the accusation is not leveled at Jesus himself, whom we might assume was performing all of the rituals the Pharisees were so focused on? But, before we get to Jesus' response, we need to pause and really hear the Pharisees. I know my Sunday school education taught me these fi...