1 Advent – December 3, 2017 Mark 13:24-37 It’s Advent! A new church season. The season before Christmas. “And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.” Keep awake is what we hear in our gospel passage this morning, and this passage is not an easy start to the season. These words […]
Last Sunday after Pentecost, Christ the King – November 26, 2017 Matthew 25:31-46 This is Christ the King Sunday on our church calendar. The last Sunday in Year A. And we’re given a challenging gospel — it is one that stretches us. Jesus is separating people as sheep from the goats. He speaks of those […]
23 Pentecost, Proper 27 – November 12, 2017 Matthew 25:1-13 The phrase….hurry up and wait. Tom Petty’s song…The Waiting is the Hardest Part are things that come to the mind with the parable of the bridesmaids. In her commentary on Working Preacher, Dr. Susan Hylen offers a really helpful insight: “the point of the parable […]
All Saints’ Sunday – November 5, 2017 Matthew 5:1-12 Today we are celebrating All Saints’ Sunday….the Feast of All Saints’ actually occurs on November 1 and is part of three holy days which begin with Halloween. Hallow means holy and Halloween is a contraction of All Hallow’s Eve. On Halloween, we are said to face […]
17 Pentecost, Proper 21 – October 1, 2017 Matthew 21: 23-32 Authority is the question of the day – the question raised in our gospel story. We live in a time when authority is rightly questioned. And this is not new, according to this passage from Matthew. To some extent those in power had every […]
16 Pentecost, Proper 20 – September 24, 2017 Matthew 20:1-16 Be honest. When you heard our gospel reading just now, did your heart leap for joy? Were you excited when you heard that the workers who’d toiled and slaved all day long in the hot sun were going to get the same day’s wages as […]
13 Pentecost, Proper 17 – September 3, 2017 Matthew 16:21-28 Last Sunday we heard Jesus saying to Peter, you’re “the rock on which I will build my church” and this Sunday he’s calling him “a stumbling block.” That’s not just great word play – from cornerstone to stumbling block – but such a reversal of […]
11 Pentecost, Proper 15 – August 20, 2017 Matthew 15:10-28 Evil. We don’t often speak about evil, but this has been a sad and painful week. The horrifying events in Charlottesville have played out in the news, and on social media, and the only reason I can understand how we are so caught up in […]
5 Pentecost, Proper 9 – July 9, 2017 Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 Today I”d like to talk a little bit about perception. Perception is the state of being or process of becoming aware of something through the senses. It is a way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting something; a mental impression or picture. It is intuitive […]
4 Pentecost, Proper 8 – July 2, 2017 Matthew 10:40-42 “Whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple, truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.” The rawness of Jesus’ words here should not be lost on us–simply a cup […]