Faith, Grace, and Hope

Beloved- I have been praying deeply about us for the past few days. We are in a tight spot in our relationship. I Pastor Julia in her 2016 Xmas Sermon costume (a star) see you shift a little when it seems like the sermon is "political" or when you are uncomfortable with how a Bible story is interpreted in a way that pinches you. I hate it when you are uncomfortable. While I am familiar with the phrase, "Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable", frankly, I try not to be in the business of afflicting. Nevertheless, I have come to an impasse. Here's the thing. I love you, my parishioner, my friend, my sibling in Christ. I love you, my neighbor, my fellow citizen, my co-creator in the Spirit. I love you, fellow created being, depender on grace, seeker of mercy. More importantly, God loves you. It is my deep, convicting, passionate, overwhelming, brooding awareness of God's love for you that will not let me lie to you about Jesus. Jesus expe...

A few weeks ago, I found out that many people who know and love me had worked for a long time to nominate me as one of the YWCA 's Women of Achievement in Alaska. I started getting congratulatory texts and emails before I officially found out about the award. Due to my personality (but not my essence), I am primarily a do-er and thinker, so it was not unusual that I didn't know how to feel about this great honor and recognition. My first reaction in text to a good friend was that there was no way I could accept this. Responding to her "Why not?", I said, "Because [the woman who watches my children] isn't getting one and I can't do anything without her." This is true and not merely self-deprecation. I am immensely grateful for Carolyn and for all who have the vocation of childcare, which help so many people work other jobs.  When I found out that the award is only given to 10 women each year and the nomination process is extensive and re...

I was supposed to answer this question on a survey. What's the right box for the pastor?  All of the above, sometimes? None of the above?  I prefer not to answer in humility or out of pride?  Today I texted with an intern, wrote about racism, was quoted in the paper about Medicaid Expansion, prayed for the people I didn't see in church yesterday, parented my children, contained my temper in the grocery store because Jesus, thought about upcoming sermons, and wept over the divisions that cause pain in the Body of Christ, even in my own house. And that's on my day off.  I'm the Reverend Julia Seymour. You may call me Pastor. I'm a leader for order among a group of people who seek to live and die in Jesus Christ for the sake of the world. The work is amazing and infuriating and joyful and grieving. Which box covers that? 

Palm Sunday/ Feast Day of Oscar Romero Luke 19:29-44             So what does an assassinated Roman Catholic Archbishop have to do with Palm Sunday? It’s a good question. At the start of Holy Week, we are in a position for deep and serious reflection. On the one hand, we can enter this week with a misplaced sense of re-enactment- the idea that we are re-living the events of a certain week almost two thousand years ago.             Sometimes the re-enactment is what we need. To re-imagine the sights, sounds, and smells. To place ourselves in Jerusalem and feel the strain of oppressed people. Sometimes that memory is what we need.             However, there is another way to consider this week. It functions like a compass for our faith. The events of this week are our true North- they give us a...