Dec. 5, 2021 Philippians 1:3-11 Luke 3:1-6 There’s an author I like who was recently interviewed in The Christian Century magazine. The question concerned this author’s particular distaste for scholarly attempts to assemble a systematic theology of Paul from the various letters attributed to him in the bible. The problem in doing that, he […]
Nov. 28, 2021 Jeremiah 33:14-16 Luke 21:25-36 The first week of Advent is always an opportunity to talk about time. And that’s because its theme – year after year – is apocalyptic. “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars” says Jesus in Luke’s gospel. “The powers of heaven will […]
November 21, 2021 Rev. 1:4b-8 John 18:33-38a The Sunday before the first Sunday of the new liturgical year is always “Christ the King” Sunday. So, that’s what today is, and it strikes me as kind of funny that despite the name of this particular “feast,” Jesus actually never says that he’s a king. He […]
Oct. 31, 2021 Ruth 1:1-18 Mark 12:28-34 All throughout the pandemic, as many of you know, my parents joined us for our Zoom services. Often they appeared before some exotic backdrop from their collection of travel photos – mom’s image appearing sometimes and then disappearing high among the palm branches, the way Zoom sometimes […]
Oct. 3, 2021 Psalm 26 Mark 10:13-16 I had a friend in seminary who was appalled at the idea that a person might live a whole life outside the bounds of faithfulness and at the last minute receive the grace of salvation. It may have been Karl Barth that she was objecting to. “Here […]
I sometimes listen to the Lutherans from Luther Seminary discuss the lectionary passages in their podcast called, “Sermon Brainwave.” This week they were unanimous in saying that there’s simply no rescuing Jesus from calling this Syrophoenician woman a dog. You can’t save him! You can’t say it’s a translation issue, or he didn’t really mean […]
August 29, 2021 Song of Solomon 2:8-13 Mark 7:1-8, 14-15 I had one of those strange weeks where the same theme kept manifesting in a number of forms. It began last Sunday when I shared with you how challenged I often feel when submitting to the notion of a Christian life. It’s not the […]
Aug. 22, 2021 John 6:56-69 “There was only one Christian, and he died on the cross.” That was Nietzche voicing his contempt for Christianity’s inability to produce convincing witnesses to their own proclamation. In other words, we couldn’t walk our own talk, which was tantamount to making our God as good as dead. Here’s […]
July 18,2021 2 Samuel 7:1-14a Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 I’ve mentioned Debbi Thomas to you before. She writes a weekly lectionary reflection on a site called, “Journey With Jesus.” You might check it out sometime. She’s always thoughtful, very authentic, and I’ve found that you can email her and she’ll even email you back. Here’s […]
July 11, 2021 2 Samuel 6:1-5 Mark 6:14-29 Among the Christian authors I like to read are the ones who formerly identify as hard-core, capital “E,” Evangelicals, but who now maintain a passion for Christ, and a reverence, and a sense of his unique place in the expression of God’s love, without the trappings […]