Authors /
Elizabeth Myer Boulton
Elizabeth Myer Boulton is president and creative director of the SALT Project.
Seasoned with poetry: Texts for preaching
One night recently I was reading to my children a book about songbirds. There we discovered one of the most beautiful things in the world: a brood patch.
Enraging good news
Jesus, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and still wet from his baptism, comes back to his home synagogue, publicly claims that he is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy, and is praised by everyone. Then, within five verses, everyone in the synagogue is filled with rage. They drive him out of town so that they might hurl him off a cliff.
What happened?
Sunday, February 3, 2013: Luke 4:21-30
Indiana’s fiery love affair with basketball began just a few years after James Naismith taught his Massachusetts gym class to toss a soccer ball into an elevated peach basket....
Training our eyes and ears
Our firstborn son came into the world seven years ago with red hair, blue eyes and keen perception. We discovered this early on.
We’d be out for a walk and Jonah would start pointing and saying, “Woof, woof, woof!” (i.e., “Mama, Dada, over there, a doggie!”). We wouldn’t see a dog anywhere, but he never lost his resolve. “Woof, woof, woof!” And sure enough, six, maybe seven blocks up, off in the distance we would see it: a big black poodle, or a cream-colored golden retriever. He was right every time. We were the ones without eyes to see.
Sunday, January 27, 2013: Luke 4:14-21
Breast-feeding is quiet and holy work—rocking, comforting, studying each other’s face and skin-to-skin bonding....
Protecting people with words
Excellent Christian preaching names and explores the shadows in order to declare that the light shines in the darkness.
Double-barrelled toys
Now that it's summer, I'm on the lookout for nonviolent
water toys. They're a lot harder to find than one might think. If you...
My good parishioner
There's a young man in my congregation--let's call him
"Michael"--who's trying to turn his life around. He's been in and out of...
Come and pray
David
Vogan is one of the most dedicated church members I know. Every Sunday, 15
minutes before the prelude begins, he climbs up into our soaring, Gothic tower...
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Clothed with joy right down to her feet
Sometimes the news of the world can take the hope of Easter right out of you. Sometimes it's hard to believe in the resurrection....
Sacramental sex: Divine love and human intimacy
What if everything we taught our kids about sex were grounded in a vision of God’s love in everyday life?
Martha’s problem: What is the ‘better part’?
"Mary has chosen the better part," says Jesus, "and it will not be taken away from her." This is not what Jesus is supposed to say.
Faith like Sarah’s
Scholars say the title "To the Hebrews" is not a part of the original manuscript: the author of this early Christian letter—a written sermon, really—doesn’t waste time on salutations....
Hosea's conviction: Hosea 11:1-11
“Brothers and sisters, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Let us therefore join our hearts together in prayer. . . .”...