Seeking Authentic Voice

One year ago, on February 14, which was the odd mix of secular and religious, of Valentine's Day AND Ash Wednesday, I made an impulsive, radical change. As I put on my alb, the robe that clergy in the Episcopal Church (and some others) wear as part of our worship vestments, I pondered my sermon. That's typical. But this time I thought, UGH! I cannot preach THIS sermon again. I mean it wasn't BAD exactly. It had all the right components for an Ash Wednesday sermon, a mediation on the invitation to observe a holy Lent. But oh was it dry. I just couldn't bear it. So I left my iPad behind and walked out to lead worship deciding that I would say whatever the Spirit led me to say in the sermon time. It was a little exciting. The congregation was small and intimate, so I felt like this would be okay. And, it was. I did the same thing on the first Sunday in Lent. Then the next Sunday. And now, every Sunday for the last year. No written manuscript. Well, once in a while I...

Recently, in Jan Richardson's Lenten retreat she offered this: "Tell them about how you're never really a whole person if you remain silent, because there's always that one little piece inside you that wants to be spoken out, and if you keep ignoring it, it gets madder and madder and hotter and hotter, and if you don't speak it out one day it will just up and punch you in the mouth from the inside."                                                                --Audre Lorde's daughter, speaking to Audre     and then this poem: She Untames Her Tongue For years her tongue was trained in soothing tastes: chamomile and chocolate, peppermint and rosemary. She specialized in pleasant words that eased from her lips, murmuring apologies and niceties, consolations an...