Sometimes You Just Gotta Sing 🎶
Jack Hardaway } Sheeruh la Yahweh keeg gao gaa sus maro ka voe va yom. Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea. Moses’ older sister, Miriam, who pulled baby Moses from the water and tricked Pharaoh’s daughter into caring for him, this is her […]
Just Walk On In
Jack Hardaway } Have you ever walked into the wrong house? I did that once (that I remember). It was at the beach. All the houses looked the same. I was having fun on the beach and walked back to the house. I just walked on in– to the wrong one. I was standing in […]
Barefoot and Holy
Jack Hardaway } Take your shoes off and leave them at the door. I was a child and a new family moved into the neighborhood, with children. When we came over to play we had to take our shoes off. The shoes were all lined up at the door. Which was fine, we didn’t even […]
Wanna Wrastle?
Jack Hardaway } Have you ever noticed that sometimes those who suffer rejection end up becoming very welcoming and inviting people? They become the kind of people who have the true gift of hospitality of reaching out and inviting. We hear today part of the story of Joseph. “I am Joseph”, he says. And boy […]
A Hot Mess
Jack Hardaway So get this. Jacob, of all people, has 12 sons and one daughter. They become the 12 tribes of Israel. Of course, only God would choose Jacob’s children to be the chosen people, to bring the Lord’s light to the nations. What could possibly go wrong? You know Jacob’s parents were rolling over […]
Knock Down Drag Out
Jack Hardaway ] Make no mistake. God is dangerous. Sometimes we forget. To encounter God is to be wounded in the case of Jacob, blessed, but also wounded. For the disciples it is to be moved to silence as they walk quickly downhill toward the cross. God and suffering are always in close company. Holiness, […]
Jacob’s Ladder
Jack Hardaway ] A place to call home. People to call family. That was all that Jacob wanted. Connections. Being connected. Communion. And he would do anything to make it happen. And that was what got him in trouble. Homeless and on the run. He tricked the wrong people. He gambled and lost everything, looking […]
Jack Hardaway ] If only Jesus had known about zucchini. I’m sure he would have had a parable about it, the parable of the zucchini. Crazy amounts of produce in a mad tumble of green sticky leaves. A parable of surprising abundance. God plants crazy gardens. That is what we hear in the Gospel today. […]
Ravishing
Jack Hardaway ] Love stories. They are everywhere. The drama, the allure, the drive, the passion, the fear, the betrayals, the longing, the grief. We are both drawn to them and repelled by them. The sappy sentimentalism, the longing for the ending of loneliness, the bitter disappointments, endless soap operas stretching across the time line […]
A Breath of Fresh Air
Jack Hardaway ] Just open up the window and let in some fresh air. Like a quiet breath, a whisper caressing our skin and we breathe it in, breathing deep, again and again. It’s been a good week for opening windows and being refreshed. A breath of fresh air. That is Pentecost. That is Jesus. […]
Grace for All
Jack Hardaway ] Hold on. With both hands. And don’t let go. What is it about children? Always grabbing ahold of both our hands, and standing on our toes, calling out, “Swing me around!” There were years where my toes were continually smashed and black and blue, from multiple generations and families of children standing […]
A World Full of Leaving
Jack Hardaway ] We are always leaving. Someone is always leaving. Something is always ending. Seasons of life slip away, sometimes quietly and slowly, sometimes suddenly. The next thing we know everything changes. I thought I saw it coming, but I didn’t. Sometimes we get to say good bye, sometimes we are just up and […]
Palm Sunday
Jack Hardaway ] Today is a question with no answer. Easter doesn’t answer it, or solve it. Easter is not the solution to the problem. Easter is a breathless surprise, but it doesn’t bring sense to the senselessness of today. Easter is perplexed rejoicing interrupting soul crushing agony. But today there is only the lament […]
Nine, Ten a Big Fat Hen
Jack Hardaway ] There are lies, and then there are damned lies. There are little white lies and then there are whoppers. There is the wicked web we weave when we practice to deceive, and then there is being caught in a web of lies. There are the people of the lie, and there are […]
Seven, Eight Lay them Straight
Jack Hardaway ] Desire. This is all about desire. What happens when it turns inward and stagnates, and decays. And when it looks outward and is transformed by love, when it is baptized. This is the fourth sermon in a sermon series on the decalogue, the ten words that set world free from the house […]
Five, Six Pick Up Sticks
Jack Hardaway ] Red rover, red rover send Robert right over! Two long lines of young people with arms and hands linked together, facing each other. One of those brutal children’s games we used to play, one child would be called upon to leave one line, run across the field, and try to break through […]
Three, Four Shut the Door
Jack Hardaway ] The television news crew pulls up to the house with Ten Commandment signs up all over the front yard. The signs are in protest to the commandments being taken out of schools, and court houses. They interview the homeowner, and in the course of the interview the homeowner is asked if he […]
One, Two Buckle My Shoe
Jack Hardaway ] The story goes that a diocese was interviewing a group of nominees for a bishop election. The nominees were up on stage for the audience to ask questions. A youth delegate came to the microphone and asked, “What are the ten commandments?” The first nominee bumbled around and named most but not […]
Feral
Jack Hardaway ] Long story short. I once had to get Animal Control to catch a feral cat. It involved a cage with bait, and eventually, late one night, it set off the trap, and was captured. I found it the next morning. It was huge. Its ears were tattered ribbons, its face was a […]
It Feels Like Rain
Jack Hardaway ] If I do and say the right things then God will like me. It is hard to escape from that kind of thinking. And by extension the idea that God doesn’t like those who do and say things differently from me. That is how religion usually seems to work. There is fire […]
Salt and Light
Jack Hardaway ] Christians are sneaky people. Subversive. Covert. On the surface we might appear to be polite, law abiding, good citizens. But, if you cut through that thin veneer of civility, and get into our minds and hearts, and attend our gatherings, what you find are a bunch of people who want to change […]
Salt and Light
Jack Hardaway ] Christians are sneaky people. Subversive. Covert. On the surface we might appear to be polite, law abiding, good citizens. But, if you cut through that thin veneer of civility, and get into our minds and hearts, and attend our gatherings, what you find are a bunch of people who want to change […]
The Right Thing to Say
Jack Hardaway ] Have you ever wondered if the words are out there to make things alright? Have you ever searched and agonized and dreamed of the right thing to say that will fix things, pull things together, build something, fix what has been broken, save someone? Are there words, if put together in the […]
Fulfill
Jack Hardaway ] A forgotten old bucket sits outside, dry and full of dust. The rain starts to fall and the bucket slowly fills up until it overflows. Filled full. Fulfilled. The bucket fulfills its obligation, its purpose when it holds water. The Holy Spirit broods over creation at the beginning, creation is fulfilled when […]