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“Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent.” —Psalm 71:9
ByThe Rev. Allison Burns-Lagreca, MDiv. June 16, 2025June 16, 2025
Originally published: May 23, 2025 This morning I read a heartbreaking report. Across the country, families and guardians are receiving phone calls and letters from nursing homes. The message is clear and alarming: if Medicaid is cut, they must begin to make alternate arrangements for their loved ones. The quiet, almost whispered implication is devastating,…
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Archive | Thoughts | Uncategorized

“When We Cut the Cord of Compassion: A Pastoral Reflection on the Consequences of Reducing Medicaid and SNAP Benefits”
ByThe Rev. Allison Burns-Lagreca, MDiv. June 16, 2025June 16, 2025
Originally published: May 22, 2025 In every generation, Scripture reminds us that the measure of a just society lies not in the wealth of its elite, but in the well-being of its most vulnerable. Over and over again, we hear God’s heart cry through the prophets: “Woe to those who enact unjust decrees… who rob…
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“She Waits at the Gate of Your Heart” Wisdom of Solomon 6:12–23
ByThe Rev. Allison Burns-Lagreca, MDiv. June 16, 2025June 16, 2025
Originally published: May 16, 2025“Wisdom is radiant and unfading, and she is easily discerned by those who love her, and is found by those who seek her.” (Wis. 6:12)She does not hide.Wisdom does not play games, does not withdraw into shadows or dwell behind locked doors. She waits—patiently, graciously, radiantly—at the gate of your heart….
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“What Lies Beneath” Luke’s Gospel, 6:39–49
ByThe Rev. Allison Burns-Lagreca, MDiv. June 16, 2025
Originally published: May 15, 2025There is a quiet kind of warning in Jesus’ words here—quiet, but firm. Not shouted, but deeply grounded. He is not interested in surface-level spirituality. This is heart work. Root work. Foundation work.He begins with the absurd image of the blind leading the blind—two people heading for disaster, neither aware enough…
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“A Word of Warning, A Call to Soul” Wisdom of Solomon 1:16—2:11, 21–24”
ByThe Rev. Allison Burns-Lagreca, MDiv. June 16, 2025June 16, 2025
Originally published: May 13, 2025Today’s passage from the Wisdom of Solomon is resting heavy on my heart. It reads like a whisper from the ancient world into our own, and yet it thunders with startling clarity:“Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us…”In recent days, as I’ve sat…
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“A Light the Darkness Cannot Extinguish” Wisdom of Solomon 1:16—2:11, 21–24
ByThe Rev. Allison Burns-Lagreca, MDiv. June 16, 2025June 16, 2025
Originally Published: May 12, 2025This morning, I sat in the warmth of the sun, my Bible open, the sounds of spring surrounding me, and the Wisdom of Solomon pierced my soul.“Let us lie in wait for the righteous man… he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions.”How ancient, and yet how painfully contemporary these…
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Archive | Poetry | Thoughts | Uncategorized

“My Favorite Theologians”
ByThe Rev. Allison Burns-Lagreca, MDiv. June 16, 2025June 16, 2025
Originally published: April 25, 2025Recently, I was asked, “Who is your favorite theologian?”I smiled and answered without hesitation — my colleagues.Not because the greats—Augustine, Aquinas, Julian, Barth, Bonhoeffer—haven’t shaped me.Not because I don’t find wisdom in books worn thin with study.But because theology, at its heart, is not only written — it is lived.It is…
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“The Day Between” A Holy Saturday Cry
ByThe Rev. Allison Burns-Lagreca, MDiv. June 16, 2025June 16, 2025
Originally published: April 19, 2025This is the day between.Between nailed fists and risen hands.Between breath stolen and breath restored.Between empire’s cold triumphand love’s defiant return.We live here—in the ache between crucifixionand resurrection.We walk among the tombs.We carry the spices of mourning.We kneel beside graves with no names.And we whisper to God,“How long?”This is Holy Saturday.Where…
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Empires Made of Sand
ByThe Rev. Allison Burns-Lagreca, MDiv. June 16, 2025June 16, 2025
Originally published: April 17,2025They hoard thunderin their clenched fists,calling it sovereignty,as if sound alone could summon eternity.They beat drums of warto drown the silence of their hollow souls,marching in circlesaround altars built of fear.But no tyrant sleeps soundly.They are dreamless men,haunted not by ghosts—but by the absence of God.See how they clingto perishable crowns,golden circlets…
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Basin, Towel, and Love: A Maundy Thursday Reflection
ByThe Rev. Allison Burns-Lagreca, MDiv. June 16, 2025June 16, 2025
Originally published: April 17,2025 This morning, I’ve been sitting quietly with John 13. A sacred moment unfolds before us—Jesus, on the eve of betrayal, takes off his outer robe, wraps a towel around himself, pours water into a basin, and kneels to wash the feet of his disciples.He doesn’t preach.He doesn’t perform.He simply serves.And in…
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