Luke 3:7-18 Many years ago my mentor and friend, Pastor Antti Lepisto, told me that we all have ‘one sermon’ which we just keep preaching over and over again. I know he meant that in terms of what comes from the pulpit week after week, but these days I am wondering if it is even …
In the Wilderness With John…
Luke 3:1-6 As is always the case, it is ours to consider John for two weeks again this Advent season. Next week we will receive the direct words of his preaching as the one who is clearly ‘preparing the way’ for ‘the one more powerful whose thongs of his sandals he knows himself unworthy to …
Stand Up!
Luke 21:25-36 I have long loved this little invitation in Luke’s Gospel for the way in which it stand at odds with all one might expect. In the wake of signs and distress and confusion. In the midst of the experience of people fainting in fear and forboding. In a time when the very powers …
A King Like No Other… Revisited and Revised
To my Companions in Dancing with the Word: I am to be taking some much needed vacation over the next couple of weeks, which will give me the sabbath time to rest and to reflect without needing to put ‘thoughts on paper” in this weekly reflection. In my absence, I wanted to share with you …
Looking in the Wrong Direction… Revisited and Revised
To my Companions in Dancing with the Word: I am to be taking some much needed vacation over the next couple of weeks, which will give me the sabbath time to rest and to reflect without needing to put ‘thoughts on paper” in this weekly reflection. In my absence, I wanted to share with you …
The Widow’s All: Revisited and Revised…
To my Companions in Dancing With the Word: I am to be taking some much needed vacation over the next couple of weeks, which will give me the sabbath time to rest and to reflect without needing to put ‘thoughts on paper” in this weekly reflection. In my absence, I wanted to share with you …
These Precious Gifts of All Saints Day
Isaiah 25:6-9 Revelation 21:1-6a John 11:32-44 And oh, it is so that I am needing All Saints Day this year. It has long been a favorite for me, yes, but the losses are running deep and hard this time around and I can hardly wait to stand still in the gifts of the day. Indeed, …
Ever ‘Reforming’: But Still Sharing the Gifts of God!
Jeremiah 31:31-34 Romans 3:19-28 John 8:31-36 This is so. I was 17 years old when the Lutheran church body I called home adopted a new hymnal: The Lutheran Book of Worship. I loved it. The liturgies were updated and lively, at least compared to what I had known before. More than this, though, I was …
The Sons of Zebedee
Mark 10:35-45 Now it is so that I have a rather muddled relationship with these sons of Zebedee, with James and John. A whole lot of the time when I encounter them as we do today in all their ‘obvious lack of humility,’ I shake my head at them, for they are so unlike how …
The Rich Man and Jesus… and Me
Mark 10:17-31 It was decades ago by now when I picked up the phone to talk to a friend who was also a pastor. We were on the edge of the year of Matthew in preaching and I hadn’t spent much time with Matthew in Seminary. For that matter, I only had one commentary on my …