Jesus, Jesus. Did you hear? There were these people from Galilee, they were faithful, made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to offer their sacrifices at the temple. And then. And then. These men. Pilate’s men. They just killed them. Slaughtered them right there in the temple. The blood of the people mixed with the blood of…
In Luke 13, Jesus tells a parable about a barren fig tree. The tree is planted in a vineyard, which sounds weird, but fig trees were often used as trellises in vineyards. The owner is unhappy because the tree is not bearing fruit. “Cut it down,” he says. But the vintner says, “I’ll dig around…
This is a guest post from Jill Clingan, one of my co-editors with Practicing Families. I have never really liked these verses from Isaiah 55:8-9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways,” says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher…
“Turn these stones to bread.” “Worship me to gain power over the kingdoms of this world.” “Fall from the pinnacle so we can all watch the angels swoop in and rescue you.” These are the temptations the devil throws out to Jesus in the wilderness. They are temptations about power: to control the natural…
I once baffled the others in my youth group by managing to get lost on a nature trail. The thing is, the trail was really hard to see and there were also deer paths and it was the middle of a Kansas prairie. If you’ve ever been in the middle of a prairie you know…
There is so, so much in this Epiphany story. Good stuff. And hard stuff. Deep theological insights. Profound truths about the human condition. But this year it is the star that is pulling me in. And on one hand it feels like I should pay attention to some of the more earthly, serious aspects of…
How is the Divine related to the human? How does the omnipotent deal with the vulnerable? What is the relationship of the Creator with the the created? How does the infinite interact with the finite? The Gospel birth narratives—all three of them–give a startling answer. Here’s how John puts it: “The Word became flesh and…
The post below is excerpted from a longer sermon on 2 Kings 7. I know our primary reading is about Elisha, but first I want to share these words from 1 Peter. I want you to not only hear them, but to know them and to hold them and to carry them with you back…
The following reflection is excerpted from my sermon on 2 Kings 4:8-37. In today’s scripture reading, Elisha is referred to as a “man of God” eight times—that’s twice as often as he is referred to by name. I will admit that I’m not quite as convinced as the Shunammite woman that Elisha is…
[This reflection is excerpted from an earlier sermon.] 1 Samuel 1:4-18 We have before us in the text this morning a very odd scene. There is a woman, probably in her thirties. She comes to the shrine at Shiloh—the most holy of Jewish worship sites in these pre-temple days; the place where the sacred Ark…
Spacious Faith 