Matthew 2:1-12 For many a season now I have read T.S. Eliot’s poem, “The Journey of the Magi,” expecting it would bring deeper meaning to the Epiphany. The truth is, though, that while I referred to it 9 years ago now in On Magi and Journeys, many years it has fallen a bit flat for …
Tag: Matthew
Upside Down Glory
Matthew 25:31-46 I imagine you might hear this as I do today, hearing about Jesus coming into his ‘glory,’ knowing which of Jesus’ hands I hope I will end up on. Oh yes, I have heard these words for decades by now and with that hearing comes the undeniable understanding of who and what I …
Wasted Gifts and God’s Grace
Matthew 25:14-30 Fear is what kept those talents buried in the ground, of course it is. The third one doesn’t name it that directly, but it is what drove him to simply tuck it all away in a safe place. And I get that, I really do. Because the risk is powerfully great. One could …
Oil In Our Lamps…
Matthew 25:1-13 It was the late winter in 1979. I was a senior in high school and competing at the state tournament in forensics. Extemporaneous speaking was my event. I grew up in a small town some 80 miles west of Chicago. We had a great speech program, mind you, with wonderful coaches. Those in …
All Saints Day 2020: Blessed Are Those Who Mourn…
“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes…” Revelation 7:9-17 “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are…” 1 John 3:1-3 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted…” Matthew 5:1-12 Ray Steinbis died this week. Only …
Divided Loyalties: Weighing It Out
Matthew 22:15-22 Oh, I surely do wish today that Jesus would have made it easier on us than he does now. For while his reply to the Herodians and the Pharisees walked an important and tenuous line, it leaves us with the responsibility of wrestling this question through our whole lives long. Now understand, please, …
This Exile: Then and Now
Isaiah 25:1-9 I have been sitting with the words of the prophet Isaiah in these last days. And I have been wondering at how his words first heard by a broken, lost people must have sounded. I have been wondering what it means that he spoke to a people in exile. And, yes, I am …
God’s Own: This Vineyard
Matthew 21:33-46 I took the long way home a few days back. I drove the roads which were mine growing up, going past vast fields of corn and soybeans which have been part of my landscape my whole life long. I grew up with kids whose families owned these farms. Indeed, parts of more than …
“My Ninevah”
Jonah 3:10-4:11 Matthew 20:1-16 “And should I not be concerned about Ninevah, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?” (Jonah 4:11) As of now, I cannot think of a better last line of …
Stuck in the Middle of Lent: Joseph’s Brothers and the Forgiven, Unforgiving Slave
Genesis 50:15-21 Matthew 18:21-35 I walked into the robing room at First Lutheran Church the other day. I had not had much reason to spend time in there over the last six months. We have been taping services earlier in the week and what in person worship we have shared in has been outside. On …