Luke 8:26-39 This is one of those weeks when it feels a whole lot more like I am Wrestling instead of Dancing with the Word. Indeed, a friend of mine will be away from her congregation next week and she was unable to come up with a supply pastor. They’d looked ahead, you see. They knew …
Responding to Jesus: A Child’s Song, A Woman’s Gift
Luke 7:36-8:3 I sat half way back for my cousin’s funeral earlier this week. Normally, like many of you, I am up front, so it was a gift to experience this very different perspective. It was easier than I would have thought just to sit back and receive the gifts of the day. In fact, …
Funeral Interrupted
Luke 7:11-17 I have to say I have no parallels for the story before us now. Never in my life or ministry have I encountered such as this. I have been part of hundreds of funerals by now and while there are some which have perhaps proceeded not quite as expected, all of them have …
The Authority of Jesus
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 …
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 …