Celebrate!
All Saints’ Day: First Reading: Revelation 7:9-17 Revelation 7:9-17 Celebrate the saints! That is a valid proclamation. And the “Who” behind such an exhortation is what gives substance to it. The saints can be celebrated...
A New Day
Reformation Sunday: Gospel: Matthew 11:12-19 Matthew 11:12-19 Open your Bible, read this passage and then jump into the commentaries. What you will find is a passage that has garnered much attention through the...
Fear Not
Reformation Sunday: Psalm, Psalm 46 Psalm 46 The readings for “Reformation Sunday” in our 3-year lectionary are magnificent. The epistle reading from Romans for the week...
Long Time Coming
Reformation Sunday: First Reading: Revelation 14:6-7 Revelation 14:6-7 Each year Reformation Sunday rolls around. Of course, it is a date in our country that is shared with Halloween. For better or worse, at least from the world’s...
Salvation is God’s Business
Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost: Gospel, Mark 10:23-31 Mark 10:23-31 Can it still be a “thing"? People speak and wrangle and argue over what saves us before God. And people actually believe weak, paltry, sinful-to-the-core...
Why Do We Ever Say No?
Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost: Epistle, Hebrews 4:1-13 Hebrews 4:1-13 The writer to the Hebrews is challenging his readers/hearers on all fronts as they make (hopefully) earnest investigation of his claims about Jesus. Just a few verses...
Clear Answers
Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost: Psalm, Psalm 119:9-16 Psalm 119:9-16 How do I walk in and through this dark world in a God-pleasing way? Well, the very first step is to admit your inability to walk in and through this dark world in a...
One of Those
Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost: Gospel, Mark 10:17-22 Mark 10:17-22 Stunning. Simply stunning. This is one of those pieces of Holy Scripture, when you read it you simply cannot be in the middle. It’s...
Believe
Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost: Epistle, Hebrews 3:12-19 Hebrews 3:12-19 The first couple of verses of our epistle reading this week are harrowing, but hopeful. “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart...
Hitting Home
Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost: Old Testament, Amos 5:6-7, 10-15 Amos 5:6-7, 10-15 Beware the “minor” prophets. That book of twelve authors that closes the Old Testament I’ve written before that the “minor” label can be...
