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Why Baptism?
“Why Baptism?” I should have understood the question. It’s my kind. Question that is. The kind I like to ask. A question which roots down to the point. And maybe makes the receiver mildly uncomfortable, like there’s a right answer and you don’t want to answer it wrongly. Now I’ve got it. And I pause…
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Blessed with a Name
Andrew I don’t know how old I was. Maybe 8 or 9. Around my daughter’s age when I first learned what my name meant. And later where it came from. Andrew, from the Greek (Andreas) means “strong”. But I haven’t always felt strong. Not in middle school or high school. Or even college. Christmas 1A…
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And Darkness Did Not Overcome It
In the beginning was the Word When we read these words on Christmas morning, they feel like a counter to the words we hear the evening before. We gather on Christmas Eve and hear the birth story from Luke, with its familiar moments of a baby born, swaddled, and laid down for bed in a…
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The Song of the Flesh
This Advent several of us gathered Sunday evenings to eat together, to talk, to explore the birth stories of Jesus, and to pray. We marked this season by focusing on the story of our savior rather than the clutter and noise of the world. It’s a fitting reminder that Jesus is born into a noisy…
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Echoes of Fear and Salvation
Three thousand years ago, an unremarkable boy grew into a remarkable king. He was a shepherd and musician, smaller than his brothers. And yet this boy took down Goliath, survived persecution from the first King of Judah, and he became the great king to unite the divided kingdoms. Two hundred years later, they’re divided again and it’s…
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Waters Shall Break Forth
God’s message draws us to the margins Advent 3A | Isaiah 35:1-10 When I first visited my grandparents in Green Valley, I really didn’t know what to expect. I was in grade school, 8 or 9 I think. And what I knew of the desert is that it’s covered in sand and there is nothing.…
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Lions don’t want to eat straw
The Incarnation Is More Radical Than We Care To Admit. Advent 2A | Isaiah 11:1-10 Isaiah 11:1-3 A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel…
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The Innocent Man
Our church year ends this morning, the Last Sunday after Pentecost, and we end with a doozy: the crucifixion. The most fitting gospel choice for today, dubbed in 1925 as Christ the King Sunday. The day we are to celebrate the primacy of Christ over human authority. And today, we’re reminded what that primacy actually…