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

Tag: ethics

Reconciliation Ambassadors
community, Lent, Oakland, pcusa, preaching

Reconciliation Ambassadors

In 2004, Jesuit theologian Jon Sobrino wrote: “We live in a culture of concealment, of distortion, and thus in effect we are living in a lie. There is not only structural injustice, not only institutionalized violence-but also institutionalized concealment, distortion, and lies. And vast resources are used to maintain that structure.” Continue reading Reconciliation Ambassadors

What it means to be “woke”: An activist’s confession for this time
Justice, Oakland, racism

What it means to be “woke”: An activist’s confession for this time

I could not stop myself from the inevitable dive into the salty tear-filled pool of white fragility Continue reading What it means to be “woke”: An activist’s confession for this time

More Than a Bumper Sticker
church, community, immigration, Justice, politics, preaching, sermon, Suffering

More Than a Bumper Sticker

Charged with the responsibility of behaving toward each other the way God behaved through history toward them, they were failing. Miserably. And when Micah spoke, this wasn’t a new teaching. And they knew it. Continue reading More Than a Bumper Sticker

Posts navigation

Older 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...