The Rev. Kate Sefton

The Rev. Christy Laborda Harris

The Rev. Christy Laborda Harris

The Rev. Christy Laborda Harris

The Rev. Kate Sefton

The Rev. Christy Laborda Harris

The Rev. Christy Laborda Harris

Proper 21, Pentecost 19 The Rev. Christy Laborda Harris
James 5:13-20 September 30, 2018

“It’s hard to wait!” I am finding it very helpful to work with a deacon who happens to be a developmental specialist. This is especially so when one hasn’t read a single book on raising children! One of the things Kate has helped us with in our house is how hard it can be to wait. She taught us the phrase and we use it often, “it is hard to wait” or “waiting is hard.” We need to name it. And then we declare that even though it is hard, whoever is struggling with waiting, and you may be able to guess who, can do it! It is hard to wait, but you can do it!

This past week Kai was in the city for the big Sales Force conference. He stayed with some family who were bemoaning the changes happening in San Francisco… the huge new Sales Force tower changing the skyline, folks coming from outside the city to drive for Lyft, and, you can be sure, the techies. I sent Kai a video of Alma declaring, “change is… Continue reading →

The Rev. Christy Laborda Harris

The Rev. Christy Laborda Harris

I love the LORD, because he has heard the voice of my supplication, *
because he has inclined his ear to me whenever I called upon him. (Psalm 116:1)

So begins today’s psalm. The psalmist rejoices because God has heard his prayers… really his cries for help. The “cords of death entangled” him. But God heard the psalmist’s prayers and his life was rescued from death.

For most of us, our primary mode of communication with God is much like that of the psalmist. When we pray, we talk to God. We tell God what’s up in our lives. We ask for help. We scream for help. We thank God. Perhaps we demand to know where God is as something bad befalls us or someone we love.

Our first reading today, from the Prophet Isaiah, reminds us of another form of prayer, another way of being in relationship with God. The author declares,

Morning by morning [God] wakens–
wakens my ear
to listen as those who are taught.
The Lord GOD has opened my ear… (Isaiah 50:4-5)

Much harder than speaking, for most of us, is listening.

The context of the fiftieth chapter of… Continue reading →

The Rev. Harry Allagree