Jesus Wept When Jesus arrived too late to say goodbye to his beloved Lazarus, his found family, one of his closest friends. When he comes too late, he does the truly human thing, he weeps. And some say, see he truly loved Lazarus, some cannot keep their mouths shut and have to admonish Jesus even… Read More
This week’s texts look a lot at what it means to be faithful. Mark 10:17-31 wrestles with is it enough to follow all of the commandments. The man who questions Jesus seems so confident: “I have done all of these things since I was a boy.” I can picture this person, for whom these choices… Read More
Jesus thinks the time has come to truly teach the disciples who it is he is. After quizzing them about who he isn’t–John the Baptist, Elijah, or another prophet–Peter seems to indicate that they know the Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus then gets on to the heavier lifting of teaching what being a Messiah entails.… Read More
In the midst of these bread sagas, we get a narrative of what everlasting bread means from Jesus. Jesus promises to be enough for us. Jesus promises to be nourishment, to be what we need in John 6:35, 41-51. This follows the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. Everyone saw how Jesus fed the… Read More
In Mark 6:14-20 we start with a shock. John the Baptist has already beheaded. Cousin of Jesus Christ, it seems obvious that the mistaking of one for another would be inevitable. In a culture where most people are probably related in some way; it seems likely that people would look similar. As everyone tries to… Read More
Summer is officially here when the RCL gives us a choice between the thematic and the continuous readings from the Hebrew Bible. I don’t know about you, but I’m not quit prepared to make that choice this year. I feel like I am running a few steps behind, like I’m still in Lent, or maybe… Read More
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
(Judges 4:1-7, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18, Matthew 25:14-30) We walk a narrow path, it seems. The whole world is in a seemingly precarious state, from additional and unprecedented Covid 19 cases, to the election in the United States, to racial tensions and climate change; well, it all sort of feels overwhelming and end… Read More
Many Protestant congregations will be celebrating Reformation Sunday this week. What a year for it! The church has been pushed in to a reformation whether we were ready for it or not. We have re-formed the way we worship. We have re-formed our education ministries and our outreach efforts and our governing assemblies. Some of… Read More
This week is a harsh set of texts: between the distasterous wedding in Matthew 22 and the Golden Calf idol of Exodus 32 things are looking poor. (Quick note Narrative lectionary is doing the exact same Exodus passage, so we can all share resources this week). But then, things are looking fairly poor in the… Read More
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