Skip to content

Improvisations

thinking outloud online

Primary Navigation

  • About
  • Classes, Studies, Workshops
  • Sermons
  • Weddings
    • Non-religious simple, multicultural ceremony
    • A Christian Wedding Reflection
  • Currently Reading

Me

WHAT I DO: Pastor, Community Organizing, Justice Advocacy, Parent, Spouse, General Adulting Stuff

THINGS I ENJOY: Good food. No. I mean REALLY good food. Being a Presbyterian. Movies. Jazz. A really friendly local coffee shop with free WiFi

DISCLAIMER

Contents may be inflammatory. If you suffer from 100% confidence in the what you learned in childhood, or 100% doctrinal certitude, or if you don't like it when someone nudges your metaphorical cheese, consult somebody else.

Recent Posts

  • What the hell, Saul!
  • Something from Nothing
  • Not Great News
  • Life Guidance
  • From the Inside Out
  • The Work Continues
  • Blessings & Curses
  • Complicated Calls
  • Love and The Hard Work of Following.

Social

  • View Deb Avery’s profile on Facebook
  • View jazzpastord’s profile on Twitter
  • View jazzdeb’s profile on Instagram
  • View jazzdeb’s profile on Pinterest
  • View Deb Avery’s profile on YouTube

Enter your email address to follow me and get notes about new posts by email.

Join 617 other subscribers

More

  • About
  • Classes, Studies, Workshops
  • Currently Reading
  • Sermons
    • A Message from the Grave
    • Ah, Lord God!
    • Can I Get A Witness?
    • Change is Hard
    • Do You Believe?
    • Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
    • Following Jesus: The Chaos of Discipleship
    • Heating Up the Lukewarm Church
    • If only you were here…
    • Magically Transformed: Eastertide Sermon Series
    • Not Heroic, Just Faithful
    • Not What We Expected
    • Passing Through
    • Rainbow Connections
    • Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs
    • The Boring Story of the Prodigal Son
    • The Dreaded Plumb Line
    • The Fire of Peace
    • THIS is the Year!
    • We’ve heard it said…
    • What to do about hope.
    • Willing to be loved
  • Weddings
    • 13 Coin Blessing (Arras)
    • A Christian Wedding Reflection
    • Formal Religious Ceremony for an Older Couple
    • Garden Wedding (Christian with humor)
    • Lasso Blessing
    • Non-religious simple, multicultural ceremony
    • Sample Bilingual Spanish Non-Religious Ceremony

When

December 2025
S M T W T F S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031  
« Aug    

Tags

Advent anti-racism Bay Area Berkeley Blog a day Christian Christianity church community devotion ELCA Election ethics faith First Presbyterian Church of Oakland FPCO GA221 Good Friday Holy Week hope human-rights immigration justice Katherine Johnson leadership Lent lgbtq Oakland pcusa Peoria poem poetry politics presbyterian questions racism religion resurrection Sermon theology Twitter unco11 UNCO13 UNCO14 United Presbyterian Church welcome worship writing

Category: Oakland

Carrying the Paralyzed Man
community, hope, Justice, Oakland, paradigm shift, pcusa, preaching, presbyterian, sermon

Carrying the Paralyzed Man

A sermon preached on Matthew 9:1-8 at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland on July 10, 2016 And after getting into … Continue reading Carrying the Paralyzed Man

This Day
church, community, Justice, lgbtq, Oakland, pcusa, preaching, presbyterian, sermon, Suffering

This Day

What does it mean to be a citizen? What does it mean to be a productive participant in our society? There is a checklist and unfortunately, the items on that list have typically been determined by people with privilege – the privilege of whiteness, the privilege of maleness, the privilege of heteronormative lifestyle, the privilege of economic power. Continue reading This Day

Practicing Hope
Easter, hope, Justice, Oakland, paradigm shift, pcusa, Poetry, preaching, presbyterian, resurrection, sermon

Practicing Hope

…the promise of resurrection seemed like pie in the sky by and by. It was a dream deferred, a thing with feathers that has flown off to perch somewhere else. Continue reading Practicing Hope

Posts navigation

Older posts
Newer posts
Improvisations
  • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Improvisations
    • Join 95 other subscribers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Improvisations
    • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...