Deuteronomy 30:15-20Luke 14:25-33 It’s not often enough that I make the time to read fiction these days. This is so, in spite of the fact that a well crafted story — factually true or not — awakens my imagination and pushes me to measure my own life’s choices in ways little else does. And so …
Category: Luke
Wondering: The Healing of the Bent Over Woman
Luke 13:10-17 It’s been more than four years since the name “Dancing with the Word” came to mind as a title for this blog. Although anything but a ‘dancer’ myself, I have always loved the interplay of words and ideas. This has been especially so as I have learned to exercise such a ‘light touch’ …
Where Your Treasure Is…
Luke 12:32-40 I am working these days on a funeral sermon for a 93 year old. Jesse was a ‘true original’ — one about whom everyone he encountered had a story. This is one of mine: It was Easter morning a couple several years ago. Nearly fifty of us were bundled up against the cold …
Lord, Teach us to Pray…With Whom Shall We Pray?
Luke 11:1-13 Most weeks, I have the ‘prayers of the people’ written by Wednesday. I always send them on to our assisting ministers by Thursday afternoon so they have a chance to look them over before worship on Sunday. (Yes this may seem early, but my normal day off is Friday and some weeks I …
The Lord Sent Them On Ahead in Pairs
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 “After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.” (Luke 10:1) I can think of no other time when I have been more grateful to have partners in mission and ministry than I am …
Choices: “Letting the Dead Bury Their Own Dead”
Luke 9:51-62 “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Given this coming Sunday’s Gospel, it strikes me that there is profound irony in the fact that for the first time in four years I am a day late in getting my post up because …
And Jesus Gave Him to His Mother…
Luke 7:11-17 Too, too many times I have yearned for this to be so. More times than I can even remember now I have stood and sat and wept with parents who are grieving the death of children. In some cases we became acquainted after the funeral home had been called. In others, I had …
On Thelma on Concourse B and Glimpsing Faith in Unexpected Places
Luke 7;1-10 I flew to Atlanta last Sunday for the Festival of Homiletics. It was powerful, as always, and I am glad I went. One of the most amazing stories I have heard in a long time, though, was one I encountered before I even got on the plane. I thought my time would be …
Thin Places: Finding Words for the Mystery of Easter
Luke 24:1-12 It was such a tender time for us then — still, even after a couple of years since his dying. Oh, the surprise of it had worn off some, this is true. And the grief was not so raw. Even so, with every joy and every struggle we could not help but wonder …
The Donkey: A Subversive Choice?
Luke 19:28-40 I have written of the colt — or donkey — which Jesus rode into Jerusalem in this space before. You can find my thoughts here at: Humble and Mounted on a Donkey. As you can tell from the title, my thoughts a few years ago focused on Jesus’ humility as he rode into Jerusalem. …