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 …
Tag: Luke
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 …
An Easter Story
Luke 24:1-12 It is my favorite Easter story, this one. For even though it didn’t happen on Easter it is a story of such defiant hope borne of righteous anger it surely had its roots in Easter, even if it didn’t happen then. No rather, this took place May the spring after we buried my …
Never Again Just Covering Up the Marks of Death…
Luke 24:1-12 I hadn’t expected it when I drove out to our local funeral home that Saturday afternoon. I had just officiated at the memorial service of a man. They were not showing his body, in fact he was soon to be cremated, and so close family stayed around after the service so as to …
“The Successful Completion of the Mission…”
Luke 22:14-23:56 “The successful completion of the mission was never seriously in doubt.” His grown children were quoting their dad as we sat and planned his memorial service. Apparently this was his signature line, one they heard so often that when they spoke of him they also spoke this in unison. Without a doubt, as they …
The Stories We Find Ourselves In
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 There is such a story in the family I grew up in. We heard it over and over again at the dinner table as children and somehow we never tired of it. Even though we knew the ending, every time it was told again we would be pulled into the drama of …
One More Year
Luke 13:1-9 It will be six years this spring — and I’m still waiting for my lilac bush to bloom. Here is how it went: Sixteen years ago in the spring after my dad died, my friend, Midge, asked me to dig up a corner of the lilac bush which had bloomed in my folks’ …
Why a Chicken?
Luke 13:31-35 It’s an odd story, this one, and but a moment in time. Many of us have far more poignant stories than this one… this is just the one that comes to mind this morning. I was in college and was traveling with my mother, returning from a visit to a friend. We had …
Through Wilderness Times: Someone to Come Home To
Luke 4:1-13 I officiated at a funeral last Saturday. I was not acquainted with the one who had died, except later through the family’s stories, but they were in need of a pastor, and as I have said in this space before, when asked I always do my best to step in. I confess I was tired …
“And They Kept Silent…”
Luke 9:28-36 I was officiating at a funeral a while back. I was working then with a funeral home I don’t work with all that often, and somehow this was the first occasion we had shared together in the funeral of a veteran. Following the service, we traveled in caravan to the cemetery. The prayers and words …