Psalm 46 I had pulled it out before going on a call the other day: these resounding words of the Psalmist which have strengthened countless struggling ones and which ring out in our minds and hearts this Reformation Day in Martin Luther’s triumphant rephrasing of this ancient message. I pulled it out to take with …
Divided Loyalties: Weighing It Out
Matthew 22:15-22 Oh, I surely do wish today that Jesus would have made it easier on us than he does now. For while his reply to the Herodians and the Pharisees walked an important and tenuous line, it leaves us with the responsibility of wrestling this question through our whole lives long. Now understand, please, …
This Exile: Then and Now
Isaiah 25:1-9 I have been sitting with the words of the prophet Isaiah in these last days. And I have been wondering at how his words first heard by a broken, lost people must have sounded. I have been wondering what it means that he spoke to a people in exile. And, yes, I am …
God’s Own: This Vineyard
Matthew 21:33-46 I took the long way home a few days back. I drove the roads which were mine growing up, going past vast fields of corn and soybeans which have been part of my landscape my whole life long. I grew up with kids whose families owned these farms. Indeed, parts of more than …
“Let the Same Mind Be In You That Was In Christ Jesus…”
Philippians 2:1-13 I officiated at a baptism yesterday. It is the second one I have done since the onset of this pandemic. In both cases we had our masks on and kept our distance. (Pictured here is the family along with the sponsors who were with us via Facetime. Other than for the photographs, they kept …
“My Ninevah”
Jonah 3:10-4:11 Matthew 20:1-16 “And should I not be concerned about Ninevah, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?” (Jonah 4:11) As of now, I cannot think of a better last line of …
Stuck in the Middle of Lent: Joseph’s Brothers and the Forgiven, Unforgiving Slave
Genesis 50:15-21 Matthew 18:21-35 I walked into the robing room at First Lutheran Church the other day. I had not had much reason to spend time in there over the last six months. We have been taping services earlier in the week and what in person worship we have shared in has been outside. On …
“Putting On The Armor of Light…”
Romans 13:8-14 It is now the moment to wake from sleep. Now. For the day is near. The time of darkness is coming to an end. And it is time to live like this is so. I have always loved both the promise and the inherent urgency of these words. Never mind that Paul’s sense …
Bearing Our Crosses and Bearing Witness to One Another…
Matthew 16:21-28 I’m afraid that I come to this today with more questions than answers. Indeed, it seems I have been grappling with these particular words of Jesus my whole life long — or at least since the first time I sat down with a Greek New Testament and word by word, phrase by phrase, …
“On This Rock…”
Matthew 16:13-20 “You are Peter. And on this rock I will build my church.” And the debate goes on, doesn’t it. What or who was Jesus pointing to when he uttered these words? Was it, in fact, Peter himself as some of our friends from different traditions have long understood or was it the the …