Rev. Heather Hinton

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Prepare! 12/09/18 (Advent 2C)

We tend to shy away from talk of repentance, and I think that’s primarily because we have loaded the word repentance with shame. In the word “repent” we hear accusation, we hear disdain, we hear harsh judgment with no mercy. We hear not that we did something bad, but that we are something bad. If we hear the command to repent often enough with all of those overtones of shame and unworthiness, then we come to fear that Jonathan Edwards was right: we are sinners in the hands of an angry god.

THIS is the Good News? 12/02/18 (Advent 1C)

Christmas: the promise of hope, the birth of joy, the coming of the light of God into the world. Christmas is good news! So why are we hearing about signs, and distress among nations, and the roaring of the sea? Why the descriptions of people fainting from fear and foreboding, the prophecies of the heavens being shaken? Why the command to keep awake, be always ready, stay on guard? If this is supposed to be the season of good news, why all the gloom and doom?

Quas Primas: In the First 11/25/18 (Proper 29B; Reign of Christ)

Today, on Christ the King Sunday – or Reign of Christ Sunday – we are invited to ask ourselves: What is in the first in our hearts, and in our lives? To what ruler or rulers do we most frequently bow down?

Grief and Gratitude 11/18/18 (Proper 28B, Thanksgiving and Stewardship Sunday)

For Hannah, though, this was not a time of thanksgiving. Peninnah, she of the many children, provoked and taunted her for her childlessness. The ritual thanksgiving of this holy journey only highlighted Peninnah’s prolific womb and Hannah’s barren one. Being assured by Elkanah of his love for her, demonstrated by the double portion of meat that he gave to Hannah during the ritual meal, did not comfort her. Year after year, Hannah’s pain and sorrow was magnified at the very place that was supposed to bring solace, at the very time that was supposed to inspire gratitude.

Guest Preacher: The Rev. Lucy Sanders 11/11/18 (Veterans Day; Proper 28B)

Our guest minister today is Rev. Lucy Sanders. She is a retired healthcare chaplain, having served at The University of Virginia Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and Sherrill House, the skilled nursing facility in Jamaica Plain. She was raised and ordained a Southern Baptist minister by her home church, First Baptist […]

The Distant Triumph Song 11/04/18 (All Saints Sunday)

It isn’t instant. We cannot rush to joy. We can’t just hurry up and move on. Grief must run its course – even grief that is for the enormity of the world’s pain. And it takes as long as it takes. But Jesus will sit with us while we cry and rage and shake.

The Spotting Discipline 10/28/18 (Proper 25B, Reformation Sunday)

Spotting involves staring at a fixed point while the body is turning to prevent dizziness and maintain balance. The dancer finds a focal point and stares at it for as long as possible, keeping the head level and facing that point while the body turns. At the last possible second, the dancer whips her head around to catch up with her body, returning her gaze immediately to the focal point. This gives her body’s visual and vestibular systems a way to know where her body is in space. The discipline of spotting is to find that one steady, immovable spot and keep your eyes fixed on it no matter what.

The Just Peace Players present: Women of the Greatest Generation 10/21/18

Women of the Greatest Generation tells the stories of women’s lives during WW II in their own words. The Just Peace Players have interviewed more that 75 women from all walks of life and from different areas in the United States. Their stories are shared in three books and The Players are in the process of publishing a fourth book.

Sacrifice and Salvation 10/14/18 (Proper 23B)

I need to start out by saying this: today’s passage from the Gospel of Mark is jam-packed with details and ideas and lessons. There’s no way on earth that I can address them all in the span of one sermon. So I’ve picked out a few ideas to talk about, and in three years when this passage comes up again, maybe I’ll pick out some different ones. Or maybe I’ll return to one of these ideas and explore it more fully…

On Notice 10/07/18 (Proper 22B)

I’m grateful that the Book of Job made it into the canon when the Bible was being put together. I’m glad to have a place to turn to that says, “yes, sometimes we suffer horribly. And no, we aren’t always at fault. Sometimes we really don’t ‘deserve’ what happens to us or our loved ones.” But I’m less comfortable with this: Job’s tragedies seem to come about because of a conversation – no, more than that: a bet – between God and Satan.