Dec. 13, 2020 1 These 5:16-24 John 1:6-8, 19-28   As I mentioned last week, Advent always gives us a double shot of John the Baptist before turning to Mary and Joseph and something that sounds a little more Christmassy on the fourth Sunday of the season.  Last week’s “John the Baptist” was Mark’s version […]

Dec. 6, 2020 Advent 2 Isaiah 40:1-11 Mark 1:1-8   “‘What genre is the bible?’ she asked me, over a table full of half-empty wineglasses and scattered paperbacks.” That’s how Julia Seymour, a Lutheran pastor in Montana, begins her lectionary reflection for the Christian Century Magazine this week. What genre is the bible?  What an […]

Nov. 8, 2020 Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25   One thing is clear to me: a lot of the little league dads I got to know while Charley spent all those years discerning that in truth he didn’t really like baseball do not share my political views.  They have expressed this mostly on Facebook, which I didn’t […]

Nov. 1, 2020 All Saints 1 John 3:1-3 Matthew 5:1-12   In my attempt to read Christ’s Beatitudes again with fresh eyes I noticed two things I hadn’t noticed before.  The first was that Jesus climbed the mountain alone and sat down, almost like this started out as a solitary moment.  Only after did the […]

Oct. 25, 2020 Matthew 22:34-46 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 So, today we have the greatest and next greatest commandments in all of scripture according to Jesus.  I’m guessing you are familiar with the passage, so rather than elaborate I’ll jump right into the commentary.  This is from Lutheran minister, Clayton Schmidt: “To love God with all […]

Oct. 4, 2020 Psalm 19:1-6 Philippians 3:4b-14   Throughout my 16 years of serving Methodist churches “World Communion Sunday” was something of a thing.  While we never went overboard with it, we took the opportunity to highlight the grace of the sacrament and acknowledge a practice and a kind of kinship that we shared with […]

Sept. 27, 2020 Exodus 17:1-7 Philippians 2:1-13 Matthew 21:23-32   I file today’s gospel passage under the “Jesus is smarter than you” category of stories.  It’s like the passage about the lawfulness of paying taxes to the oppressive Roman Empire.  Jesus says, “look whose image in on that coin.  Give to Caesar what is his […]

Sept. 24, 2017 Matthew 20:1-16   I’m guessing that this parable is a familiar one. And I’m guessing that it is familiar because most of us on one level or another object to it.   Though the workers are hired at different times throughout the day the owner pays them all the same full daily […]

Sept. 13, 2020 Romans 14:1-12 Matthew 18:21-35   I once disappointed Margaret Rose.  It was horrible.  She was the resident saint of my last church, a grandmotherly figure who even in the old photographs looked grandmotherly.  She had been at the church forever and had taught at the pre-school for just about as long.  Generations […]

August 30, 2020 Exodus 3:7-15 Romans 12:9-21 Matthew 16:21-28   One of the topics covered in the book we just read on Race is “privilege.”  To be sure, it is a lightening rod kind of a word, and honestly, I’m a bit concerned that in raising it now a portion of our gathering will lose […]