Mark 4:26-34 Could there possibly be an easier illustrated Gospel reading than this one at this time of year? At least I know this to be the case where I call home. I look out my window to see a world that is lush and green. I drive through the countryside and take in field …
Tag: Mark
Speaking of ‘Family’: A Local ICE Raid
Mark 3:20-35 And Jesus replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” The pertinence of this question came home to me in a powerful way in these last few days. I received a text from a young colleague. He had picked up a rumor that a road was blocked in the east part of town …
Picking Up Our Crosses: Dismantling Fear
Mark 8:31-38 I came home for supper this last Wednesday night. It was Ash Wednesday, and the day had already been full. I had preached at our noon service and so I figured I had a little more time before heading back for evening worship. The sermon was ‘tested’ already and would not need revision. …
This Time Apart: Entering Lent
Mark 1:9-15 I remember this well. A friend was pastor of a congregation which was then a new mission. As a result, their membership boasted all sorts of people who were relatively young in the faith — or at least that is why I was told they made this decision. “We don’t celebrate the season …
This Battle Here and Now
Mark 1:29-39 Here is what strikes me today about this reading from Mark’s Gospel. The battle is local. It is in the home of Simon and Andrew and visits them on their front porch. And it is in nearby, neighboring towns. Indeed, one doesn’t have to travel far to witness suffering and often the despair …
Out in the Open: Casting Out Unclean Spirits
Mark 1:21-28 I think perhaps my take on this week’s Gospel reading is far too simple now. Maybe this is because I hardly know what to make of it and so I find myself settling on what little I know for sure. For this is where I wonder: What does it mean that in the …
“Preparing the Way…”
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 …
The Beginning of the Birth Pangs
Mark 13:1-8 The world ended that day. With that phone call. That startling news.That deepening realization. The world ended that day. Or at least it ended as you had known it. I am so deeply aware of this right now for I am in the midst of a stretch of funerals. Some expected. Others not. …
Seeing the Widow
Mark 12:38-44 Truly, my whole life — including the years I have served as a pastor — I have heard the story of the widow in Mark’s Gospel as a story of sacrificial giving. It is a story about generosity. It is an image of one who gave all that she had. This drama and …