Pastoral is Political: The Kingdom of Heaven is Like….

The Kingdom of heaven is like… ….a treasure hidden in a field (Matthew 13:44) …a vineyard, where no one is to late to join in the work and the reward (Matthew 20:1-6) Image ….a grain of mustard that grows into the largest plant, a tree, where the birds of the air can build their nest… Read More

NARRATIVE LECTIONARY: Luke 5: 1-11

Abundance, and permission to leave everything behind. (A reflection on Luke 5: 1-11 for January 24, 2021) As I read these this short but dense scripture of the calling of the disciples, I am struck immediately by two very basic themes to draw on: the first being the idea that GRACE COMES FIRST.  And the… Read More

RCL: More than Enough for Everyone

Whether you are following the continuous texts and have Jacob wrestling with God or the thematic texts and have the invitation to the table in Isaiah, you can’t go wrong. The sense of abundance that comes through these texts is undeniable, an abundance that is transformative and inclusive of all of humanity. What better message… Read More

Narrative Lectionary: Many Verses to God’s Love Song

This week’s Narrative Lectionary passage gives us two passages from Isaiah. The first is the love song of the vineyard yielding bad fruit in chapter five. The second is from chapter eleven, a passage we often hear during Advent, where a shoot grows from the stump of Jesse. Commentary at Working Preacher is here. A… Read More

Wednesday Prayer

Amazing God, On this day in the middle of the week In this moment in the middle of the morning As we journey in the middle of the Lenten season We stop and catch a view of both the sun’s brilliance and the moon’s light in the deep blue sky And we are convicted to… Read More

Narrative Lectionary: Oil Crisis

Matthew 25:1-13 Working Preacher commentary is here. Let me start out by saying I’m opposed to the very premise in this parable, that women should be sitting around in the dark, just waiting for some guy to arrive. I know, I know. That’s not the point of the story. But some days it is for… Read More

Narrative Lectionary: Business Practices

I’ve heard this parable (here) preached and taught as an economic justice story. And, it is. I’ve also heard it shared in relation to God’s grace, abundance, and generosity. And, it is. But, when I read it this time something new happened for me. Images of an owner whose business practice is to center persons… Read More

Revised Common Lectionary: The Unity Edition

Many of us will participate in World Communion Sunday this week. I suppose it’s no coincidence that the texts speak to the ways in which we are all united. While I have been following the semi-continuous readings through the summer and have tracked with the Moses and the Israelites escaping into the desert, the Ezekial… Read More