[This is an excerpt from a sermon I preached on 1 Peter. My husband, who does not usually provide sermon commentary, said, “It was gimmicky, but you pulled it off.” Clearly he was deeply moved in the Spirit by my words.] Dear Peter, I just wanted to write to you as one church leader…
[This reflection is excerpted from a sermon I preached on Hebrews 12:18-29. You can find the full text here and the audio here.] Generally, I find the section headings in Bibles less than helpful. But the section heading for this week’s scripture stopped me in my tracks: “The Mountain of Fear and the…
*This reflection is excerpted from a sermon based on Matthew 18:15-20 that I preached about three years ago. (Funny how the lectionary works like that!) – – – – – The Greek word that gets translated as “church”–ekklesia–shows up on only two occasions in the Gospels. Both in Matthew. The first is: “You are Peter,…
The other day as I was clicking around online, I came across a blog written by a fellow Mennonite pastor. I liked what she had to say in her most recent entry, so clicked on the little button near the top of my screen that said “Follow this Blog.” I follow several blogs and some…
Moses has a thousand reasons to stay right there with the sheep, not the least of which is the fact that, as far as he knows, Pharaoh still wants him dead. But with or without a warrant hanging over our heads, speaking truth to power is hard. It’s not something most people do readily. It’s…
There is a story about the great theologian, Augustine of Hippo. One day after he had been writing about the Trinity for awhile, he decided to take a break and go walk along the beach. He came across a boy who had a bucket. He would fill up the bucket, run up the hill, and…
*John 14:15-27; John 20:19-23 In John 14, the Farewell Discourse, Jesus tells his disciples not to be afraid. Now in John 20 we see the disciples scared for their lives, hiding behind locked doors. In both passages, Jesus offers them peace in the midst of their fear. And then Jesus breathes on them and says,…
*Acts 2:1-21 If we back up to the first chapter of Acts, we hear Jesus’ instructions to the gathered believers: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the…
This is an excerpt of the sermon I preached on John 19:31-37 this past Sunday, April 6, 2014. It is a complex topic and I commend to you the sermon in its entirety. – – – – – – I attended a discussion this past week with Mennonite theologian J. Denny Weaver. He has written…
Matthew 27: 33-54 [This post is excerpted from a sermon. The full sermon text is available here.] We began Lent with the story of Jesus in the wilderness. He is fresh off the spiritual high of his baptism where the voice proclaimed from the clouds, “This is my son, whom I love. With him I…
Spacious Faith 