Posts

"He is Risen!"

An Easter Sermon by Rev. Linda Roberts-Baca   As many of you know, when I was 7-years-old my 5-year-old brother died. I still remember the night my sister and I came home, after being at our grandparent’s house, to find his little bed made, with its red corduroy bedspread tucked neatly around the corners, and his pillow, untouched, underneath. When we saw that little bed made at night and my brother not sleeping soundly in it, my sister and I both knew what our mother did not want to tell us: our brother was gone, and whatever that meant, we knew enough to know we would never see him, at least, not on this earth, in this life, again. I thought about that whole episode a few weeks ago, when I found myself standing at my brother’s grave. It was a cold day and the sky was overcast and there was no one at the cemetery but me. Someone had dropped a little purple iris from a bouquet from some other flowers, from another funeral, on the ground. I picked it up and put it in the little
Post a Comment
Read more

Stuff that Makes Hearts Sing

I've been in ministry for over 36 years -- having graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in the Spring of 1984 -- however, this past summer was my first official and all-expense paid Summer Sabbatical. It started two years ago when folks from Rio Grande Presbyterian Church and I decided to dedicate some of our time and energy to develop a shared vision and submit a grant to the Lilly Foundation and Endowment answering its question: " What Makes Your Hearts Sing ?" "Clergy Renewal Grants" are designed to refresh congregations and their pastors, and the Lilly Endowment has been blessing congregations of all shapes and sizes and denominations with their generosity in supporting the work of Christ in congregations, seminaries, universities and programs meant to be a blessing to others. We started work on this grant in September 2020, and submitted it in April of 2021  By August we learned that our grant was accepted, and received funding for our shared vision
Read more

Who Will Welcome God?

"Mary gave birth to her firstborn son...and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn." -Luke 2:7   We sometimes forget, looking at our porcelain or hand carved Nativity sets, just how brutally hard the circumstances were of Christ's birth; and how difficult for a young woman, pregnant, and unwelcome anywhere .   Most of us have never experienced the brutal hardship of the destitute, the refugee, or the really poor.  But Jesus did, and so did his mother and his foster father, Joseph.  Ever wondered why the 'greatest story ever told' begins like this : with a pregnant girl, a foster father, and no welcome anywhere?   Christ's beginnings in this world were full of hardship--from his inauspicious birth in a cave to his death, like a criminal, on a cross.  So, too, are the lives of many around the world, and, increasingly, in our own nation. Who will help the 30 million people at risk of losing their homes because of COVID19?  Who will we
Read more

What a Pandemic Teaches

Jesus said: "And greater things than these you, too, will do. "                                                                                                --John 14:12 So, by my estimation, we're a little over half-way through this journey in a time of pandemic. Wouldn't it be interesting to share what each of us has learned? Hard wrought lessons of what's needed in an emergency; poignant lessons on the brevity of life; revealing lessons on the fragile nature of our world and our need for connectivity and one another.   What have you learned in this time of pandemic?    This little virus has served great purposes, hasn't it? Revealing the structure of societies--from their healthcare preparedness to airline transportation safety. Indeed, it appears no sector anywhere in the world's history has been rendered more transparent and obvious than in this time of living through, and dying in, a pandemic.   What have I learned?   It appears to me
Post a Comment
Read more

What Makes Us Pause

"All of our problems stem from our inability to sit quietly in a room all alone."                                                                                                                                  -Blaise Pascal Today is, officially, the first day of Spring. Where I live it is also, officially, the first day of restaurant, gym and mall closures due to a virus that has made the whole world pause, and do what Christians often do in the Season of Lent: reflect on our lives and mortality. Viruses are not new to our planet. The Coronavirus, COVID19, is new in that, up until now, no one has ever contracted it, and, so, we have no natural antibodies to combat it...yet...(but, we will).  What's, also, new is that no virus in the history of the world has been tracked and recorded and its numbers and deaths counted and broadcast 24-hours a day; or, as my husband, Michael, says 'stopping all other news in its wake, making everything else take a back
Read more

Pausing for Advent?

" Reign of Christ " or " Christ the King " Sunday, Nov. 24, 2019, begins the Season of Holy Time in the Church Year.  It's a time when, if the world doesn't take pause, we, who follow Christ (and are not afraid to say His name) do... or, at least, can --if we want to pause in an increasingly secular and superficial world. Where is the place you stop to think about what matters most?  For that matter, where is the place you feel free and welcome...to cry?  Advent, in the Church, is that kind of place and that kind of time: and, maybe, that's what makes it Holy (as opposed to Ordinary) because, in Advent, we're invited to slow down (how counter-cultural);  look up (stars not only sing, they make 'silent' announcements, to the wise who notice them); remember (who it is that created stars); and praise (the One who comes in the most unlikely of places--a virgin's womb;  a Bethlehem cave). I don't know about you, but I need a time and
Read more