Preacher: Julia Baker Scripture: John 12: 1-8 I keep thinking of Mary walking among the stalls of the marketplace, a year’s worth of wages tucked under her garments. The weight of those coins. The weight of what she knows in the deepest place of her that she must do, her conviction with each step. I…
Author: washingtoncitycob
The Mystery of Mercy
Preacher: Dana Cassell Scripture: Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32 I have felt a lot of feelings towards the people who removed my ordination for officiating the wedding of two women two years ago. Like, a LOT of feelings. The Virlina District Board defrocked me in June of 2023, after I officiated the wedding of two young…
Foxes and Hens
Preacher: Dana Cassell Scripture: Luke 13:31-35 My friend Cindy spent her career as a high school teacher in Virginia Beach. Cindy is funny and snarky and fiercely protective of the people she loves. She started the first GSA – Gay Straight Alliance – at the school where she taught, and was a staunch protector and…
What is blocking the flow of love?
Preacher: Jenn Hosler Scripture: Psalm 51:1-2, 6-12; Isaiah 58:1-12; James 5:1-9, 13-16 A few weeks ago, I attended a retreat in Florida at a Catholic retreat center. I wasn’t surewhat to expect for myself at this retreat. I didn’t come in with any specific hopes, though I knewa dedicated time for renewal and spiritual growth…
Love Comes Down
Preacher: Julia Baker Scripture: Exodus 34:29-35 and Luke 9:28-43 My junior year in college, I lived in the Peruvian Andes. And one ordinary morning, I met God or maybe God met me in a way I could see. The river flowing by the meadow I was in was steeped glacial turquoise. At 14,000 ft the…
Love Your Enemies
By: Dana Cassell Luke 6:27-38 Did you know that there’s an influx of Amish moving into south and central Virginia? In fact, Virginia and West Virginia are the sites of the fastest-growing Amish populations in the country. Farmland, it turns out, is a lot cheaper here than it is around Lancaster, PA, and hundreds of…
God’s call in our lives
By: Dana Cassell Luke 5:1-15 Koenig, Peter. Breakfast on the Beach, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=58541 [retrieved February 12, 2025]. Original source: Peter Winfried (Canisius) Koenig, https://www.pwkoenig.co.uk/ One of my favorite call stories is from Henri Nouwen. It’s not a story from scripture, but a story from…
Love – and Almost Getting Thrown off a Cliff
Preacher: Jenn Hosler Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Luke 4:21-30 Love – and Almost Getting Thrown off a Cliff (1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Luke 4:21-30)Jennifer Hosler The love passage – 1 Corinthians 13. Perhaps this feels like a difficult passage to dig into right now. Using my powers of deduction, many of us are stressed, terrified, angry,…
The Spirit of the Lord
Mural by Michael Rosato in Cambridge, Maryland By: Dana Cassell Luke 4:14-21 This past summer – actually, during a trip up your way to preach with y’all in June – I spent some time on the Eastern Shore. While I was there, I visited the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Park. It’s located way out…
God’s economy of abundance
By: Rev. Nate Hosler John 2:1-11, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 Our Gospel passage is from the book of John. The passage is from the beginning of the secondchapter. It is very early in the book. If you recall, we just finished up Christmas. While it mightfeel quite long ago already, it was only a few weeks…
Washington City Church of the Brethren 