Preaching Roundtable
The Green Blades Preaching Roundtable weekly reflections by a variety of preaching writers on the ecological implications of each Sunday’s lectionary.
To inquire about writing for the Green Blades Preaching Roundtable, or to receive these reflections on a weekly basis, contact Kristin Foster, editor, at revkristinfoster@gmail.com.
Rev. Karen Bockelman, Duluth, Minnesota
All Saints Sunday
November 5, 2023
Revelation 7:9-17
Psalm 34:1-10, 22
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12
All Saints Sunday so often focuses on the humans who are the “unlikely ones” to be blessed. We name those who have died and remember them. We light candles and offer prayers. What would it mean, on this day, to name the “deaths” of creation—what has become extinct or is endangered, is empty and lacking, poor, mourning, hungering and thirsting for wholeness? What would it mean to pray for blessings on creation and to commit ourselves to be instruments of God’s fulness? If the Beatitudes were to be rewritten with creation in mind, where would you place monarchs and whales, ocean tides and rainbows, the dark of night and the brilliance of stars, the heat of the desert and the threat of flood, endangered species and family pets, wind and clouds, fields and mountains?
​
Read the full reflection here
Rev. Matthew Cobb, Together Here Ministries
24th Sunday after Pentecost
November 12, 2023
Matthew 25:1-13
Go to the innermost, and be there as a unitive energy is welling forth from the darkness of the ground. Take care of yourself, love yourself. From this essence that you are you, simply and plainly, act, with no analysis, no forethought. Your conscience with the guidance of your deep unconscious awareness, what ancient traditions describe as bearing witness to what is, will always lead you and guide you as needed.
Stay there at home in the innermost essence of yourself. That is from there where you need to act. And you need to act now, as the time spent conversing and analyzing and passing time with no action are over.
​
Read the full reflection here
Pastor David Carlson, Duluth MN
25th Sunday after Pentecost
November 19, 2023
Zeph 1:7, 12-18
Ps 90:1-12
1 Thess 2:9-13
Matt 25:14-30
To be sure, the world has deep needs. From war and gun violence to poverty and racial injustices, from indifference to a mistrust of others that has weakened the fabric of our society. And in the face of such challenges, the message that often comes across is that we need to be fearful.
Yet that fearful mindset is precisely what our other readings confront. As Paul says to the Thessalonian church, “God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that … we may live with him.” The soteria of the New Testament is not just about salvation after death but about God freeing us from sin and enabling us in this life to embrace a holistic sense of wellness, wholeness, healing and wellbeing for all people and creation as an alternative to a fatalistic, fractured trajectory. And rather than scarcity, Jesus invites us to see God’s abundance and even in the midst of fearful times to live boldly in the promises of God.
Read the full reflection here
Rev. Emily Meyer, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Reign of Christ Sunday
November 26, 2023
Ezekiel offers a somewhat nuanced image of the Divine Sovereign character - a gracious shepherd who cares tenderly and lavishly for ‘my sheep’; a shepherd whose provision ensures that pastures will be green and lush, water will be cool and plentiful, and safety will be offered and accessible: ‘I will feed them with good pasture…’, ‘I will make them lie down…’, ‘I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed and I will strengthen the weak…’ Under the compassionate care of this royal shepherd, bullying, arrogance, greed, covetousness, and hoarding will not be tolerated. Growing fat off the suffering and deprivation of others will not be tolerated - indeed it will be punished with expulsion from the flock.
For a scattered and oppressed people, these are words of hope and comfort.
For a nation/people who are already comfortable, the warning against greed and bullying tends to fall on deaf ears.
​
Read the full reflection here
Green Blades Preaching Roundtable Archive