150 Years of Faith in Coatesville

Proper 6 Year B – June 16, 2024Mark 4:26-34          This morning we’re hearing the parable of the mustard seed. Eugene Peterson, somewhere, has called parables “narrative time bombs” and that is certainly what today’s parables are.  They are meant to undermine our assumptions of what we think are the “givens” and even the “realities” that we accept without question and offer us a vision of something different.          So, let’s look at our parables today. In the first parable,…

3 Pentecost, Proper 5 – June 9, 2024Mark 3:20-35          It is still early in Jesus’ ministry; but already, he has driven out unclean spirits, healed the sick, eaten with sinners and chosen his disciples when we come to today’s story. He has mesmerized every crowd he’s come into contact with, stirring up such hope, excitement, and yearning in people’s hearts that they just can’t leave him alone.  So they follow him to Nazareth and pour into the house where he’s…

2 Pentecost, Proper 4 – June 2, 2024Mark 2:23-3:6 Jesus and his disciples are walking along on their way to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. They are apparently hungry and so they pick some wheat as they walk through a grainfield and eat it on the way to synagogue. The Pharisees observe this and ask Jesus why he lets his followers break the laws of the sabbath. Jesus tells them a story they already know and likens himself to…