Luke 23:33-43 I was a political science major in college. My reason for choosing that path is a longer story in itself, but, at least in part, what it all came down to was this: I was (and continue to be) fascinated with how people translate belief into action. I cannot today remember how it …
Tag: Luke
This Long Wait…
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 Luke 21:5-19 It had been a long time. I have been a fan of the Chicago Cubs my whole life — and it had been almost twice that time since the city of Chicago had cause to celebrate as it did this last week. It was sometime in the last few years …
Blessed Are You Who Are Poor…
Luke 6:20-31 It had been a busy morning. I had been out of the office far too much in the last few weeks and so it is that I found myself with the phone pressed to my ear making belated birthday calls. For an hour and a half. I was about an hour and fifteen …
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector: What’s Underneath
Luke 18:9-14 We’ve had some road construction done on our street over these last couple of weeks. As of this writing, they had taken the pavement down to the original bricks and put down the first layer of pavement. The had replaced much of the curbing at the intersections — including the cuts in the …
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’ …
The Nearness of the Kingdom: Jesus Goes, Too
Luke 21:25-36 I spent several hours in the E.R. the other night — this time not because I had been called. No, instead, I was on the other side. I’ll spare you the details, but I was suffering a severe gall bladder attack. After they diagnosed it and addressed my pain, they sent me home …
On Jesus and Reunions and Forgiveness of Sins
Luke 24:36-49 A tornado hit my hometown last Thursday night. I had never heard of a ‘wedge’ tornado before, but now I’ll never forget it. A wedge tornado is wider than it is tall. I heard tell of one woman who was looking right at it and didn’t see it for she could not discern …
What Christmas Eve is For
Luke 2:1-20 As we approach another Christmas Eve, I find myself remembering now one of the first Christmases I served as a pastor. I was still young, of course, and I confess I found myself not quite settled into the role or even into my life as an adult. To be honest, I was struggling …
Home to Emmaus
Luke 24:13-35 This has long been one of my favorite pieces of Luke’s Gospel. Perhaps that is because I can just picture Cleopas and the other disciple walking with their heads down, trying to make sense of all that had been theirs to see and hear, especially in those last several days. We know …
Christmas in the Barn
Luke 2:1-20 I have friends who have done this for years — gathering in a barn on Christmas Eve — with bales of straw and battery operated candles and more people than room and a few animals to make it seem especially real. I’d thought about it in other years in other places, but existing …