By Heather Carlson

• More Than a Prophet by Heather Carlson (6/12/2013)
  ...book, 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 me wonder what kind of buzz Simon's dinner party was generating. Luke tells us Jesus was garnering attention across the countryside after he raised a widow's son from death to life. Now Jesus the heal...
• Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! by Heather Carlson (3/21/2013)
  ...ght 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, oppression and fragility. At last Jesus will take hold of Jerusalem! Maybe even a wisp of smugness laces the festivities; finally the powers that reign are going to be put in their place. “That will show thos...
• Risky Waters by Heather Carlson (1/10/2013)
  ...f history about how we have fought and killed one another over the rite. <em>When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. </em>(NIV) It strikes me that Jesus isn't alone. There are others there being baptized, and there is someone there to baptize Jesus. If anyone was qualified to baptize themselves and leave the whole messy religious system behind, it was Jesus. But that...
• First Things First by Heather Carlson (10/31/2012)
  ... 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 parishioner's mind these are overshadowed by the calendar that proclaims this as the Sunday before the American quadrennial election. One more public opportunity to remind parishioners of their citize...
• The Heart of the Matter by Heather Carlson (8/30/2012)
  ... rituals the Pharisees were so focused on? But, before we get to Jesus' response, we need to pause and really hear the Pharisees.<!--more--> I know my Sunday school education taught me these figures were "bad." Cast as one-dimensional characters, we knew that when Pharisees appeared on the flannelgraph, trouble was afoot. They were people to be judged and scorned, not those with whom our sc...