Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18John 6:56-69 “Choose this day whom you will serve…” — Joshua (Joshua 24:15) “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life” — Simon Peter (John 6:68) “Did I …
Category: Lectionary
Some (Not So) Random Thoughts on Bread
John 6:51-58 Every time I travel to Minneapolis, I do all I can to make time to drop in at my favorite used bookstore. Last week, like every other time, I managed to walk out of there with a number of books I just couldn’t do without. This time my haul included a little book …
God is Not Done
1 Kings 19:4-8 John 6:35, 41-51 Poor Elijah is surely in a bad place today. We know this to be so because he says so. We also know this is so because of things he has done just prior to our encounter with him at this point in the narrative. Just before this, he has …
This Food That Perishes…
John 6:24-35 These days my Friday mornings are pretty much the same. I start the laundry. I get bread rising. And I clean spoiled food out of the refrigerator. Because food — or at least most any food you would want to eat — perishes. But, of course, it is not only the food we …
Jesus and the Feeding of the 5,000 and a Man Named Karl
John 6:1-21 To tell you the truth, I completely understand Philip’s response in this week’s story of the feeding of the crowd of 5000. It is a mountain of hunger standing before him, after all. And it’s not as though any one of Jesus’ close followers had with them the resources to begin to touch …
Jesus: Our Peace
Ephesians 2:11-22 I certainly can’t remember a time when differences didn’t divide. In fact, this truth has come to mind in a particular way this past week-end as I have watched my beloved Chicago Cubs fall once more to the Chicago White Sox. Fans from both teams may look alike, may work or worship or …
A Meal to Remember
Mark 6:14-29 Is there anyone out there who finds this week’s Gospel reading in any way life-giving? Truth be told, this week I thought hard about honing in on the prophet’s words about plumb lines and Amos’s call in Amos (Amos 7:7-15) or about our inheritance as God’s adopted children in Ephesians (Ephesians 1:3-14) instead. …
As Those Who Are Sent: Just Go!
Mark 6:1-13 I woke up early on Friday morning. I had checked email and poked around on Facebook. While awake, it had been a long and full week, and I did not yet feel like moving much, so I scrolled across the screen, taking in the other options on my IPad. I had forgotten that …
On Charleston and the Gaping Wound of Racism and the Cloak of Jesus
Mark 5:21-43 Along with many of you, I have found myself devastated in these last days at the news of the murders of the nine who had gathered for prayer and study last Wednesday night at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. As Presiding Bishop Eaton of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America …
Power over a Storm
Mark 4:35-41 I have been a pastor nearly half my life now and for the first time in these last weeks I have found myself in conversation about safety plans in the event of extreme weather. Of course, this has been prompted by a recent tornado whose path missed us by mere miles as well as …