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
Saturday Prayer – Just Right
Well, God, I’m pretty sure there’s not enough. Or if there is, It (whatever It may be) will be divided in such a way that I do not get my share. At the same time, I’m also fairly certain that there’s too much. That I’ll be swept away by It (whatever It may be) or… Read More
