Blessed are the protesters

Blessed are the protesters

Rev. Ashley Harness [On the Sunday after Inauguration, 2017] Scripture: Matthew 4:12-23 As I imagine this scripture, I try to put myself in the scenes of this ancient story. John the Bapist – the radical dissident against the Roman Empire who was both Jesus’ spiritual...
Dreams, Visitations and Other Epiphanic Interruptions

Dreams, Visitations and Other Epiphanic Interruptions

Matthew 2:1-12 January 8, 2017 Rev. Dr. Rebecca Voelkel   Bidden or unbidden, God comes. For this sacred presence, we return thanks. Amen. She had been like a second mother to me. When, after college, I got on a train alone and moved to Seattle when I’d never...
Christmas: Follow Love to All the Wrong Places

Christmas: Follow Love to All the Wrong Places

Rev. Ashley Harness Christmas Eve, 2016 Her name wasn’t Mary, but Zintkala Mahpiya Wi Blackowl – Sky Bird Woman. From the Sicangu and Ihanktonwan Lakota tribes, she came to Standing Rock from Oregon in August to stand with her people against the Dakota Access...
Advent: Defiant Hope

Advent: Defiant Hope

Rev. Ashley Harness Scripture: Matthew 24:36-44 ‘But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Child, but only the Parent. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Child of Humanity. For as in those days before the...
Gratitude as Resistance

Gratitude as Resistance

Rev. Ashley Harness Scripture: Psalm 46 God, You are our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, Though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; Though its waters roar and foam, Though the...
Solidarity is Resurrection

Solidarity is Resurrection

Rev. Ashley Harness Scripture: Luke 21: 5-21 [A caveat: While I am legally not allowed to endorse a political candidate as a pastor, there is nothing I can find that says I can’t call out Pharaoh when I see him enfleshed in our times.] Beloveds. I read this scripture...