The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Who Are You? Who do you identify with in the parable? This is part of what makes parables so powerful. Some days we read the story through the eyes of the priest or the Levite. Some days we feel like the Samaritan. And then there…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Sent with the Seventy Close your eyes and picture Jesus and his followers together. Most likely people either picture Jesus sitting around with the twelve disciples or standing in the midst of thousands preaching and teaching. Yet in today’s gospel Jesus has seventy followers close…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Asking Everything What does it mean to be a disciple? Today’s texts answer this question in various ways. Elisha was given the burdensome mantle of Elijah. Up until this point he’d simply been a student of the great prophet. Then, without much warning, Elijah passed…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page Proclaiming How Much Jesus Has Done We feel powerless when life’s storms rage about us. Despite our best efforts, we cannot navigate those dangers without the hand of God to guide and free us. We feel powerless when life’s storms rage about us. Despite our…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. A Place with Jesus The movement of this day—from shouts of praise to words of denial and cries for crucifixion—mirrors the path of discipleship. The lives of Jesus’ followers hang in the balance between faithfulness and betrayal. For Peter, the act of denial is subtle…
Less Grumbling, More Humbling Grumbling! The crowd around Jesus—the “in” crowd, that is—was grumbling. Grumbling because Jesus welcomed those who traditionally had been set apart: tax collectors and sinners. Who are those who cause us to grumble? Whose seemingly undeserved handout or unearned status change filled our hearts with resentment this week? Jesus speaks to…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. Fertilized, Fruitful, and Free God’s word for us today is nutritious and wholesome, though hard to digest. The gospel reading seems oddly brutal alongside the abundance and comfort of the texts from Isaiah (“delight yourselves in rich food”) and…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. Purpose and Perseverance This week’s gospel text from Luke presents another temptation for Jesus. The Pharisees approach Jesus with a warning about his safety, telling him to “get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you” (Luke 13:31).…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. An Identity on Which We Can Rely In Luke’s gospel, the story of Jesus’ temptation comes immediately after his baptism and a lengthy listing of his ancestors. Both help confirm the identity of Jesus as the Messiah and the…
The sermon will be a post on our Facebook page. Please click on link to view sermon. Lifting the Veil The transfiguration is frustrating for disciples—past and present—who long for an unmediated experience of God. Jesus’ glory is revealed, and then, just as suddenly, a cloud descends and the vision fades. And even though Paul contrasts…