Isaiah 58:1-12 Matthew 5:13-20 I heard a few days back that we just finished one of the cloudiest Januaries on record here in Northern Illinois. I didn’t need a weather forecaster to tell me that, though. I have sensed it in my very being as the atmosphere seems to weigh us all down as these …
Tag: Matthew
Answering the Call
Matthew 4:12-23 “Immediately they left their nets and followed him…” (Matthew 4:20) I got the call to do a funeral last week. I said, ‘Yes,’ for I always try to do what I can for such as this when possible. It turns out, the one who had suddenly died was 47 years old. He was …
On John and Jesus and Legacies and All of Us…
Matthew 11:2-11 I have been thinking some about ‘legacy’ these days. The sort that is left to us and the sort we leave behind as well. Maybe this is because of the ubiquitous presence of Christmas Classics… from A Christmas Carol with all of its countless remakes and the at least once annual viewing of …
Telling Time… Revisited
I’m recycling an old reflection now as I just returned from vacation. I hope these thoughts from a few years back are in some way still blessing to you… Romans 13:11-14 Matthew 24:36-44 Quite a few years ago now I accompanied a group of soon to be high school freshmen to Confirmation Camp at Augustana …
The Story Continues: On Dreams and Celebrated Births and Following Hope Where It Leads
Matthew 2:1-12 This is how the story of what happened 24 years ago was told to me. It was the early morning that my nephew Andrew was born. My mother, his soon to be grandmother, had a dream which awakened her with a start. In her dream she found herself back teaching 3rd grade when …
Seeing the Face of Jesus
Matthew 25:31-46 It has been, quite simply, one of those weeks when I have hardly had time to pause in the Gospel reading for this week. So rather than offer something not well thought out, I returned to what I wrote in this space three years ago. I hope it still speaks. I know the …
What Do You Have to Lose?
Matthew 25:14-30 Seriously, what do we have to lose? A few days ago, I witnessed just this spirit of abandon in a small group of people who perhaps would not normally behave in this way. We were on retreat together — digging deep into scriptures which deal with ‘bread’ and wondering together about God’s abundant …
“Giving to God the Things That Are (Already) God’s”
Matthew 22:15-22 You can surely sense the storm clouds gathering by now as Jesus is confronted here by the Pharisees and the Herodians who together are trying to trip him up. Indeed, it is clear both here as well as in the verses which follow that his opponents are still trying to get at the …
The Wedding Banquet: Turning It Inside Out
Matthew 22:1-14 I have preached this parable before, of course. I have preached it as it is written and as it is often most typically understood — as a kind of warning to accept the invitation to the ‘banquet’ and to be ready when doing so. In fact, even this week as I read it …
The Parable of the Vineyard: Being “Tenants” Today
Matthew 21:33-46 I don’t know much of vineyards except for the three rows of concord grapes which grew in straight lines, supported by fence posts and wire, behind the garage where I grew up. I am certain that when my folks bought that house to accommodate a growing family that the grapevines were just an …