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tiny seeds of love
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,…
Outside is inside
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…
Sabbath is created for life
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…
“reserve the right to get smarter”
Trinity Sunday – May 26, 2024John 3:1-17 Today in our church calendar, we celebrate Trinity Sunday – and we’re given, from John’s gospel, the story of Nicodemus and the very well known piece of scripture from John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” The story of Nicodemus is a story about God’s love for the world.…
prayer is relationship
7 Easter – May 12, 2024John 17:6-19 For this seventh Sunday after Easter, the Revised Common Lectionary always gives us a portion of Jesus’s “High Priestly Prayer”. It’s the culmination of his farewell discourse to his disciples. The setting is the Upper Room on Maundy Thursday. Jesus has just washed his disciples’ feet, foreseen Judas’s betrayal, predicted Peter’s denial, promised his disciples the Holy Spirit, and offered them urgent words of instruction. Time is running out, and Jesus knows…
“abide in my love”
6 Easter – May 5, 2024John 15:9-17 Last Sunday we heard about vines. Jesus used a vivid image of a branch abiding in a vine. If the branch were to separate itself from the vine, it would wither and die. But if it simply stays connected, the vines aliveness flows into the branch and bears fruit through it. So, if we abide or remain in vital connection to Christ, the Spirit will flow with God’s aliveness in and through…
Pruning
5 Easter – April 28, 2024John 15:1-8 We are given two rich pieces of scriptures this morning, the amazing story of the Ethiopian eunuch and the story of the vine and the branches. Jesus is telling us that we are the branches and he is the vine – that we cannot bear fruit by ourselves unless we abide in the vine. It’s a counter cultural message in this age of ‘pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps’ and describing ourselves…
Leading With Our Scars
3 Easter – April 14, 2024Luke 24:36b-48 Last week, we heard about Thomas, his doubts, his questions about the risen Jesus, touching Jesus’ wounds. That was John’s account. This week we hear the story from a slightly different angle, from the writer of Luke. The disciples huddle together behind locked doors, afraid that the authorities will come after them. They struggle to take in these strange reports of “Jesus sightings” and wonder what it all means. Then, suddenly…
The Lord Is My Shepherd
4 Easter – April 21, 2024John 10:11-18 Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd”. This usually conjures up, at least for me, comforting thoughts. Like the image of Jesus holding a sheep lovingly and tenderly in his arms. But in actuality, this discourse emerges out of a conflict with the religious authorities in the previous chapter. So, why did Jesus use a shepherd metaphor in his time and place? According to John’s gospel, Jesus had just healed a…
A Way
2 Easter – April 7, 2024John 20:19-31 “Do not doubt, but believe” Jesus tells us today. This story about Thomas is given to us every year on the Sunday after Easter. It is a resurrection story filled with the reality of human life. Thomas is asking to see the wounds of Jesus….the mark of the nails in his hands and the mark on his side. Thomas wanted to see Jesus’ wounds and put his fingers in them. And, Jesus…
Resurrection happens in the dark
Easter 2024 Happy Easter! So, this Easter we hear the resurrection story from Mark’s gospel, which I usually avoid, but using John’s version, because the ending to Mark is notoriously odd. In Mark, the tomb is empty (apart from the messenger), but nobody gets to see Jesus or touch the nail holes in his hands. There is no great commission, no recounting of the Hebrew Scriptures or a meal shared with travelers to Emmaus, and no intimate conversation with…
Do we wish to see Jesus?
5 Lent – March 17, 2024John 12:20-33 “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” The setting is Jerusalem, the occasion is Passover, and the people making the request are Gentiles, visiting the city for its traditional religious festivities. “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” It sounds so simple. A straightforward request. But is it, really? Is it ever? Maybe it’s one of those questions that asks more than we could ever realize. Perhaps it’s an example of “be careful what you wish…