Mark 11:1-11 John 12:12-16 Approaching Jerusalem, Jesus paused. It had been another unsettling week for the disciples – a week full of parables they struggled to understand, an unexpected lunch with a tax collector, and a morbid take on this trip to Jerusalem. But seeing the city in the distance and knowing that ahead lay… Read More
Revised Common Lectionary: A New Hope
UPDATE: After this column was posted, another mass murder/hate crime took place in the USA. How are you addressing this violence against people of Asian descent in your worshipping communities? Perhaps this Sunday it would be appropriate to include an extended litany of lament and confession, based on Psalm 51. ADDITIONALLY: this week, leadership at… Read More
RCL – 4th Sunday in Lent
Numbers 21:4-9, Ephesians 2:1-10, John 3:14-21 A long time ago, on a hot summer day, I was painting a small bench in my front yard. As I reached for the garden hose to rinse paint off my hands another similar “hose” moved on the ground. It was a gigantic snake. My husband still laughs at… Read More
RCL Lent 2, February 28, 2021
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 Romans 4:13-25 Mark 8:31-38 Now that we’ve officially launched Lent 2021 and the big joke is that people think they never left Lent 2020, it’s the perfect opportunity to remember that somebody’s always in Lent, pandemic or no pandemic. Yes, every day of every year people face their mortality, great losses, fears,… Read More
Revised Common Lectionary: First (or 52nd) Sunday in Lent.
Welcome to Lent. Welcome back to Lent. Welcome to the longest Lent-ish season that many of us have experienced! For most preachers and faith communities around the world, a lockdown in response to the global pandemic occurred sometime during Lent last year. For some of us, it feels as though Lent never ended in 2020.… Read More
RCL – Tearing the Veil
2 Kings 2:1-12, 2 Corinthians 4:3-6, Mark 9:2-9 It seems strange to realize that, for those of us in the U.S., we are rapidly approaching one year since the world was normal. I still remember my “last” Sunday, though of course I didn’t know it at the time. That is where we meet our people:… Read More
RCL: Healing
I don’t know about you, but when I read Mark 1:29-39 I immediately think of the multitudes of demons in my life, that I want Jesus to heal. Do you believe demons are real? Mark invites some real contemplation about where you stand on demons. Are they mental illness or bodily infections or disabilities or… Read More
“I want to speak to the manager.” Hmmm. What does that mean for us?
Authority can be a slippery thing within a community of faith. We can make many mistakes around it. We may give it to those who can’t live up to it. We may reject authority altogether and lose its voice. We may pick and choose where authority can speak to our lives. These texts invite us… Read More
Revised Common Lectionary: Following God’s Call
OK. For those of us in the USA, and for those abroad who have a vested interest in US politics, this is not exactly the easiest week to be prepping a sermon. If you’re not preaching in the US context, feel free to skip the next two paragraphs… but for those preachers in the USA,… Read More
RCL – Come and See
The Second Sunday after the Epiphany: 1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20), 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, John 1:43-51 Here we are, journeying away from the baby in the manger and closer to the In The Beginning Word, with all of the intrigue and mystery involved. We’re fully inside of Epiphany, that is, celebrating the manifestation of God in… Read More
