Sept. 18, 2016 Jeremiah 8:18-9:1 Luke 16:1-13 Today’s scriptures leave us either utterly depressed or utterly confused. First, there is Jeremiah, known as the weeping prophet. “My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick.” There’s deep sadness in this passage, there’s compassion, and anger, and a sense that it is […]
July 24, 2016 Luke 11:1-13 Chip W. sent me a link to this story by Auburn Sandstrom, which I’ll try to summarize this morning. It is called, “A Phone Call” because it was at two in the morning while cradled desperately in her bed that Auburn dials the number that her mother had once given […]
Amos 7:7-17 Mindfulness is big right now. If you Google it you’ll see how it can help you “stay simple in a complex world.” It can help you “launch your career.” It can help you “become a better parent.” All that came up in just 10 seconds of searching. We have a friend who is […]
June 26, 2016 Gal. 5:1, 13-25 Luke 9:51-62 I have a regret that still nags at me a bit. A woman from a former church came to me in crisis. It wasn’t the usual kind of crisis though – no one was hurt, nothing lost. It was a spiritual crisis, a beautiful crisis of […]
June 19, 2016 1 Kings 19:1-15a Luke 8:26-39 Have you been watching Game of Thrones? It seems that maybe the Hound is ready to take the disorienting and daring plunge of accepting new possibilities for his life. The “Hound” is the nickname of the ruthless guard for the now deceased and utterly detestable child king, […]
June 5, 2016 Galatians 1:11-24 It is really hard to understand what Paul is so upset about in his letter to the Galatians when all we get is a little piece of scripture to read. And, I think it is even harder to understand what he is getting at in today’s pericope if we have […]
May 29, 2016 1 Kings 18:20-21, 22-29, 30-39 Galatians 1:1-12 This story from 1 Kings is not my favorite. In a way it feels very primitive to me, representing the kind of faith that doesn’t stand up to the tests of life. This is a God that the biblical writers preferred to believe in more […]
May 15, 2016 Acts 2:1-21 John 14:8-17, 25-27 Pentectost Confirmation Sunday “I believe God exists beyond anything we could imagine, watching over us all. He is not beyond our world in a two-dimensional, linear sense. He is not even beyond in a three dimensional sense, or in a sense of time. He is somehow, someway, […]
May 8, 2016 Acts 1:1-11 Luke 24:44-53 As these 50 days of the Easter season approach their conclusion with next week’s Pentecost Sunday, the Sunday prior, according to the liturgical calendar, is always a celebration of the Ascension, this moment of Christ’s final, post-resurrection departing. We read the story twice this morning, presumably from the […]
April 24, 2016 Acts 11:1-18 I first came across Tony Campolo when I was in seminary. A Phd student who is now a big shot professor at Duke was leading a study group at the church we both attended, and she was using a video series that Campolo had produced. I had never heard of […]