by Melissa Kelly | Dec 3, 2023 | Advent, Megan Ramer, Narrative Lectionary - Year 2, Sermons
Hope Has a Context Jeremiah pens some of the most beautiful words of hope to his community. But those hope-filled words are smack in the middle of horrors. Pan back even just a few verses, and one can see that Jeremiah is writing from prison, where his people are...
by Melissa Kelly | Nov 19, 2023 | Megan Ramer, Narrative Lectionary - Year 2, Sermons
Poetry The prophet Isaiah writes poetry: to express deep love between God and God’s beloveds, to convey heartache, to cleverly and poignantly pierce through word play, to evoke hope and catalyze action, to faithfully proclaim the truest nature of God. If poetry is...
by Melissa Kelly | Sep 17, 2023 | Megan Ramer, Narrative Lectionary - Year 2, Sermons
I didn’t laugh. Yes, you did. We have all laughed at and with Sarah for as long as we’ve heard the story. An 80 year old woman giving birth!?! Pastor Megan challenges us to consider laughter. What impossible things do we laugh at? An end to hunger?...
by Melissa Kelly | Nov 13, 2022 | Fall 2022, Megan Ramer, Sermons
Representation Matters Drama heightens in the exaggerated, fantastical tragi-comedy that is Esther. After a moment of reluctance, Esther rises to the occasion to successfully execute a plan to protect her people (and literally execute – on a 75-foot-high stake...
by Melissa Kelly | Sep 18, 2022 | Fall 2022, Megan Ramer, Sermons
A Time to Hear from One Another We encounter the timeless poetry of Ecclesiastes about the seasons of our lives. Pete Seeger iconically set this poetry to music so poignant and beautiful that it is known to nearly all of us. Like all good poetry, there is spaciousness...