So, a few nods to 9/11:

First, a sermon (video) by Dean Brian Baker of Trinity Cathedral in Sacramento that you can access here.

Next, a poem/prayer by Maya Angelou on Jim Richardson’s Fiat Lux which you can find here (as well as an earlier sermon, if you are interested, further down in the blog, by the Rev. Dr. Michael Suarez).

There is a sermon on the Sarcastic Lutheran site you can find here.

Finally, a prayer I wrote (but did not use) for the day:

A Prayer on the Tenth Anniversary of 9/11 (more…)

One of the blogs I follow is The Sarcastic Lutheran.  And she recently posted a sermon on Haiti and where God is in this picture in which she said:

This week’s events bring with them a lot of questions about God, and none of them have to do with parties.  One atheist blog I read this week sneeringly used the earthquake to make a case against believing in God at all.  The writer implying that he could not believe in a God who would inflict such suffering on so many people, which made me admit that according to that definition I must be an atheist too because I don’t believe in that God either.

She goes on to talk about the marriage feast as Cana and what kind of God Jesus shows himself to be.  If you are interested, you can find Nadia’s sermon here.

Found this at “The Sarcastic Lutheran.”  I believe Nadia (Bolz-Weber) was writing about herself:

OMG, I think I’m BelkerHillstreetblues

 

You know how in police dramas like Barney Miller or Hill Street Blues all the cops are hanging around the station and they either have on police uniforms or shirts and ties?  But there is always that one undercover guy who looks like the last thing he is is a cop?  He is totally a cop, he just doesn’t look like it, which actually helps him do his job. Well, last night as I was heading out the door to go to a synod meeting with a bunch of other Lutheran pastors  I realized “I’m that guy”.

Here’s an interesting excerpt from an Easter sermon on inclusion given by “the sarcastic Lutheran.”

As many of you know, last week Seth and I attended the Rocky Mountain Synod assembly – the legislative body for this region of the Lutheran church.  For more than 10 years my denomination has been talking about human sexuality.  Much like the early church who were convinced that gentiles could only become Christians if they changed into being Jews first (which, for the record, involved a rather unpleasant process), (more…)

I have been facinated by what I’ve been hearing about “the emerging church.”  This seems to be where much of what is exciting in the life of the church is happening today.  Nadia Bolz-Weber of  The Sarcastic Lutheran has her own definition:

“So, what IS the ’emerging church’?”

Emergingchurch

If I had a dollar for every person who has asked me “So, what IS the emerging church?” we could meet our budget this year. Here’s my own definition, and it is just that – my definition.  Not the definition.  When I use the term “emerging church” here’s what I mean by that.  (I feel like I’m walking into a mine field, but here we go….)

Emerging Church:
Christian communities that emerge out of very particular cultural contexts where the traditional church is basically irrelevant.  These cultural contexts are more often than not urban, youngish and post-modern.
If you want to see more, click here.

Soujorners posted an article on God showing up in older women by Nadia Bolz-Weber. a Lutheran pastor living in Denver, Colorado, where she is developing a new emerging church, House for all Sinners and Saints. She blogs at the Sarcastic Lutheran.  The article can be found here:  “God Showing Up in Older Women.”

My wife found this for me.  At the House for All Sinners and Saints, an urban Lutheran liturgical community in Denver Colorado, they asked this question and collected answers throughout Advent.  If you’d like to see how they answered this question, click here http://sarcasticlutheran.typepad.com/sarcastic_lutheran/2008/12/where-we-met-christ.html and look below the icon.  There are futher comments below (on that site) if you are interested in following further.