2 Peter 3:8-15a Mark 1:1-8 My dad grew up in a quaint, historic town in Massachusetts. It is one where the dates in the graveyard date back to before the Revolutionary War and as a result, it is a place where it seems history is literally to be discovered around every corner. It has been …
Raking in the Dark
Mark 13:24-37 It seems to happen to me every year as summer turns to fall and winter is just around the corner. It happens in an especially busy season, of course, and it happens when the weather isn’t necessarily very nice and when darkness comes sooner rather than later. And it happens because one of …
Seeing the Face of Jesus
Matthew 25:31-46 It has been, quite simply, one of those weeks when I have hardly had time to pause in the Gospel reading for this week. So rather than offer something not well thought out, I returned to what I wrote in this space three years ago. I hope it still speaks. I know the …
What Do You Have to Lose?
Matthew 25:14-30 Seriously, what do we have to lose? A few days ago, I witnessed just this spirit of abandon in a small group of people who perhaps would not normally behave in this way. We were on retreat together — digging deep into scriptures which deal with ‘bread’ and wondering together about God’s abundant …
Oil For Our Lamps…
Matthew 25:1-13 Oh, it is so that as I read the saga of those bridesmaids my chest tightens just a little. For I have always worried about being ‘ready.’ No, perhaps not so much — maybe not enough even — about being ‘ready’ for the ultimate return of the ‘ bridegroom. But in the day-to-day I …
All Saints Day: In Memory and in Hope
Revelation 7:9-17 Behold a host arrayed in white Like thousand snow clad mountains bright With palms they stand. Who is this band before the throne of light? (Behold a Host, Hans A. Brorson, c. 1760) This day on the church calendar grows all the more precious to me the older I get, for the …
“If You Continue in My Word…”
John 8:31-36 It was some time ago when I first traveled to Germany to see the ‘Luther Sites.’ As I recall, on the first day of the journey I was sitting on the tour bus next to a friend who had skidded into that journey exhausted and so as soon as we stowed our luggage …
“Giving to God the Things That Are (Already) God’s”
Matthew 22:15-22 You can surely sense the storm clouds gathering by now as Jesus is confronted here by the Pharisees and the Herodians who together are trying to trip him up. Indeed, it is clear both here as well as in the verses which follow that his opponents are still trying to get at the …
The Wedding Banquet: Turning It Inside Out
Matthew 22:1-14 I have preached this parable before, of course. I have preached it as it is written and as it is often most typically understood — as a kind of warning to accept the invitation to the ‘banquet’ and to be ready when doing so. In fact, even this week as I read it …
The Parable of the Vineyard: Being “Tenants” Today
Matthew 21:33-46 I don’t know much of vineyards except for the three rows of concord grapes which grew in straight lines, supported by fence posts and wire, behind the garage where I grew up. I am certain that when my folks bought that house to accommodate a growing family that the grapevines were just an …