Matthew 15:21-28 “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David, my daughter is tormented by a demon.” Now I know that you all know this. Mental illness carries all kinds of stigma today. I have known this since I was a child and we experienced it in our own family. Back then it was something …
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Walking on Water
Matthew 14:22-33 I have survived some storms, of course. I know you have as well. I’ve weathered the sort of storms that inevitably come with living and I’ve watched the other kinds of storms roll in as well. The sort the disciples find themselves in the midst of in this week’s Gospel lesson. It was …
On Loaves and Fishes and Parking Spaces…
Matthew 14:13-21 It’s such a familiar story before us now that it’s hard to hear anything new in it. Indeed, it rolls around with slight variations again and again. Even so, while for the most part these are not ‘original’ thoughts on this story, these are what come to mind today… One is this. I …
The Kingdom of Heaven is Like Yeast…
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 There are so many images of the Kingdom of Heaven in this week’s Gospel reading that it’s hard to know where to begin. We are reminded of its similarity to a mustard seed, to the yeast that leavens a family’s bread, to hidden treasure, to fine pearls, and to a net cast into …
Wheat and Weeds and Birthday Calls
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 I am a terrible gardener. It could be that I just don’t care about it enough. Or that I have simply not taken the time to develop the skill. Or maybe I’m just never going to be good at it, because you see I often have a hard time telling the difference between …
The Sower Went Out to Sow
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 I gave blood the other day. As I was laying on the cot with a needle in my arm, I tried to get acquainted with the young woman who was tending me. First I asked how long she had been doing this. “Three years,” she replied. Then I asked where she had …
“We Played the Flute for You…”
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 For a while there, I was an avid reader of the Harry Potter series. It was interesting, complex, adventuresome, AND it gave me a natural ‘in’ with my then young nephews. I can’t remember which book it was when I finally had to put it down. What I do remember is being …
A Disciple is Not Above the Teacher…
Matthew 10:24-39 “A disciple is not above the teacher…” It came to mind today as I was reading tender Father’s Day tributes on Facebook. It was as I was scrolling through the photographs that one had me standing still in memory. Perhaps it was no coincidence that I had remembered him out loud already once …
To Rest: Created in the Image of God
Genesis 1:1-2:4a “And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the word he had done in creation.” Genesis 2:2-3 …
The Power of the Holy Spirit
Acts 2:1-21 Having a few days off this week, I decided to tackle some big tasks. One of those was digging up the bushes in my back yard which didn’t survive the winter. Now they looked mostly dead, but they weren’t entirely. I expect this made job that much more difficult. First, I trimmed them …