April 19, 2020 John 20:19-31 Acts 2:14a, 22-32 I thought that to begin things we might just reflect a little on the gospel of John itself. First of all, it was likely written over 1,900 years ago. That means that 80 or so generations have passed John’s testimonies about Jesus to one another as […]
April 12, 2020 Col. 3:1-4 Matthew 28:1-10 Easter Sunday I’ve been finding that Mondays and Tuesdays are the hardest days for me. Sundays are great! On Sundays I’ve been finding such energy and joy in seeing you all, worshiping with you all, finding inspiration and hope from some new angle on God’s love together. […]
April 5, 2020 Mathew 21:1-11 Matthew 27:27-37 For the first week of this pandemic our theme for worship was healing prayer. Though the theme was in place before the pandemic caused all the closures, it seemed all the more appropriate to offer prayers for healing when we realized that being physically together was not […]
Feb. 2, 2020 1 Cor. 1:18-31 Matthew 5:1-12 A nun from the Buddhist monastery that the Confirmation class and I are going to sent me an intro to Buddhism video the other day. As I was watching I was reminded that at the very core of Buddhism – the central problem that Buddhism seeks […]
Jan. 26, 2020 Matthew 4:12-23 I wonder if today’s gospel passage has a way of working against itself for modern readers, preventing us from really hearing it. First, there’s this image of fishing and its connection to evangelism (which for some in and of itself is a questionable word.) Whether you fish or not […]
Oct. 27, 2019 Luke 18:9-14 I’m pretty sure that we cannot think our way into God encounters. We can think our way into the type of God we want to encounter, but that’s not the same as an actual encounter. We cannot work our way into these encounters either, as the Pharisee in our […]
April 28, 2019 Acts 5:27-32 John 20:19-31 Giving Campaign 1 “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” It is easy to hear those words as if they are directed to Thomas. In fact, they are directed to him according to the dialogue, and when we read them that […]
April 21, 2019 Luke 24:1-12 What is most interesting, I think, about Luke’s version of the Easter story is that there is no body, no Jesus present. Unlike in John’s gospel, the one that tends to be more familiar, Jesus doesn’t appear to the women, call Mary by name, and open her eyes to […]
Oct. 28, 2018 Hebrews 7:23-28 Mark 10:46-52 The Book of Hebrews doesn’t get a ton of play in the lectionary that we (and most other mainline churches) follow. Right now, toward the end of what they call Year B, is high season for Hebrews. We get 7 weeks of Hebrews; that is, if I […]
Oct. 21, 2018 Job 38:1-7, 34-41 Psalm 104 Mark 10:35-45 A friend of mine told me the other day how he keeps getting these really inspired sermon ideas. He shared some of those ideas with me and I agreed: they were fantastic. The churches where he had been preaching agreed too. “They really responded,” […]