Faith, Grace, and Hope

This prompt was originally scheduled for 11/29, but I'm catching up. Text:  Floodwaters will never again destroy all creatures. Genesis 9:15b (CEB) ...and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.  Genesis 9:15b (NRSV) Prompt: FR(ACT)URED You can add up the parts  but you won't have the sum  You can strike up the march,  Every heart, every heart  to love will come  but like a refugee.  Ring the bells that still can ring  Forget your perfect offering  There is a crack, a crack in everything  That's how the light gets in.  Anthem- Leonard Cohen There's a fancy church word for the moment in communion wherein the presider asks God to send the Holy Spirit into the elements: epiclesis. It is in this invocation or calling down that one asks, in front of all gathered, for power of the Holy Spirit to come into the bread and the product of the vine (juice or wine) and to bless them.  E...

Text: Genesis 6-9                        In all the things I do for our children’s service, Heavenly Sunshine, one thing I never do is read the flood story. I do a lot of wild and crazy things, but I never read that story. I do not like presenting it as a story for children. It’s not a story about cute animals- it’s a story of the idea that the world went so wrong that God decided to undo creation. That’s not Vacation Bible School-friendly, that’s apocalypse. No number of cute songs or rainbows can make me okay with this story.             This is an interesting perspective because most of us never hear about the flood again after our VBS or day camp days are finished. A few of us may have discussed Genesis as adults or once or twice heard a sermon on the flood, but so rarely. Who wants to talk about it? Who wants to consider that God, who was merc...