Mark 7:24-37 A couple of months ago I was out on my early morning walk. The sun was not quite up as I headed down Meadow Lane and turned left on Borden. I don’t remember now what was on my mind that morning as I tried to pick up my pace and turn my walk into more …
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 It’s an old story, this one, and one with roots not in malice, but rather, youth and ignorance. It is when I first began to discern what mattered and what didn’t in ministry. I was a young pastor serving a small, rural church. The people there were kind and they were …
Mark 6:14-29 There are no two ways about it. The story before us now is one that always turns my stomach. Not that I’ve ever been a huge fan of John the Baptist although it is likely I might have felt differently about him had I actually encountered him in his prime. Then perhaps his choice …
Mark 6: 1-13 “Jesus ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.” (Mark 6:8-9) I’m what you might call a ‘defensive packer.’ I pack for ‘what ifs’ — hoping to be prepared …
Mark 5:21-43 It was the Thursday before Father’s day when I stood in a hospital waiting room with a family. We were waiting to hear from their daughter’s surgeon. The child is 13 years old. The surgeon arrived and delivered the much welcome news that he believed the cancer was contained. There appeared to be …
.Mark 4:26-34 This is a great lesson for those of us who are living in farm country at this time of year, for the image Jesus offers now is coming alive all around us. Now I have to say that I’m not much of a gardener myself, but friends everywhere are putting their energy into the …
Mark 3:20-35 It goes without saying that family is a powerful force…. Today, to be sure, but also in the time of Jesus. I know that for me, my earliest memories and my most influential forces involve family. For instance, I can recall sitting on the basement floor of our house on South 3rd …
Mark 16:1-8 There’s a gap in the story. And for now, at least, I’m not speaking of the one that comes at the end of this resurrection account but one that’s there in the story right before the narrative of our Gospel Story. One where the details are entirely left out — perhaps because those first listeners to this …
Mark 8:31-38 This is a story that was passed along to us after my dad died. This is how it came to us: Two of my sisters, my two young nephews, my mother and I had traveled east to the town north of Boston which was my dad’s hometown. My sister, Sarah, especially wanted to go …
Mark 1:9-15 I have to say that the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness could not have come at a better time for me for I have found myself in ‘uncharted territory’ these days. The call came at a little after 6 am last Thursday morning. My 81 year old mother who has always …