Isaiah 55:1-5 Matthew 14:13-21 It’s hard to know what there is new to say about this story which shows up in all four Gospels: a story which you and many of those who gather likely know by heart. It takes little to recall the energy of the massive crowd, the disciples’ frustration, the apparently meager …
Month: July 2023
God’s Unexpected Abundance
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 It seems to me that the stories Jesus tells today are offered to open up our hearts’ imaginations to see God at work in the world in unexpected and always abundant ways. Jesus does so by speaking of ordinary things: Like a tiny seed which grows into something tall and sturdy which …
Wheat and Weeds: Side by Side
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 If you are a child of the Midwest of a certain generation, you may have held a summer job like I did. This is how it was. When I was in high school for a couple of weeks of a couple of summers at just about this time of year, my sister …
The Extravagant Sower
Isaiah 55:10-13 Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it…” Isaiah 55:11 “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed… Other …
“Come To Me, All You That are Weary…”
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 I pulled up my chair at a meeting today next to a city leader the other day. In my defense, our time was short and the setting was less than ideal with others quickly arriving. Even so, unexpectedly he leaned in close and said to me, “What do you do when you …