Luke 7:1-10 There are, of course, things going on in this story which we don’t see through our own cultural lens, particularly since the world Jesus lived in was ordered so much by ‘class’ in ways we may never fully understand. Recognizing my own ignorance, I know I need to wonder, for instance, why the …
Category: Lectionary
A Unity Not of Our Making
John 17: 20-26 I got word on Wednesday afternoon that my old friend John would most likely die that night. His dying was not unexpected, but word of it still took my breath away. I stepped outside into the warm May sunshine to try to take it in, to put this news in its place. And …
Jesus’ Gift of Peace
John 14:23-29 This Sunday’s Gospel is one I often read at funerals, especially the part where Jesus says to his disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be …
Loving One Another
John 13:31-35 I was standing in a hospital room many years ago now. It was during one of a dozen such stays after my dad’s first heart surgery. A group of friends from his church had come to see him. As I remember it, they stood awkwardly around his hospital bed, fumbling for words to …
Our Shepherd’s Voice
John 10:22-30 I stepped into the funeral home on Tuesday afternoon. I had met with the family on Monday. The woman’s daughter described herself and her family as “spiritual but not religious,” although their roots were Lutheran, which is why the call came to me. I spent extra time that day walking through the funeral service …
Following Jesus Once More
John 21:1-19 I can’t really imagine what it must have been for Peter and the other disciples as they gathered on the lake shore that night. There is certainly nothing in my own experience that parallels what they have been through: to watch Jesus crucified, and to have participated in it by their own denial …
On Hopscotch and Crocuses and Doubting Thomas Once More
John 20:19-31 I didn’t get up in time to go to my weight training class this morning. It’s the day after Easter, after all, and my 4:45 alarm just came too early. So instead I decided to take the walk I’ve been fitting in these last couple of weeks. It takes just more than half …
An Easter Story
Luke 24:1-12 It is my favorite Easter story, this one. For even though it didn’t happen on Easter it is a story of such defiant hope borne of righteous anger it surely had its roots in Easter, even if it didn’t happen then. No rather, this took place May the spring after we buried my …
Three Crosses
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 Within 24 hours this last week-end I encountered three very different crosses. The first was brought to my attention in a phone call from our custodian. I was working at my desk on Saturday morning when he called to tell me that the church had been tagged with graffiti the night before. He told …
Never Again Just Covering Up the Marks of Death…
Luke 24:1-12 I hadn’t expected it when I drove out to our local funeral home that Saturday afternoon. I had just officiated at the memorial service of a man. They were not showing his body, in fact he was soon to be cremated, and so close family stayed around after the service so as to …