Tag: discipleship

  • Peter Jumps Into the Water

    This week’s gospel from John 21 deals with nudity, miraculous fishing, and redefining love. It is a jam-packed resurrection appearance that only could be delivered by that incredible gospel we call John. One part sticks out for me this week. And it obviously deals with Peter. So the disciples are fishing. They are hanging out.…

  • Overcoming Death

    We all love Easter. Particularly after a tough Lent. This year’s felt heavy. Each year, I struggle with the scope of the great story arc that we deal with in Holy Week–with the rise and fall of Jesus of Nazareth. Then the fall and rise of the Christ. I have always taken this as the…

  • A Holy Wednesday: The Day of Anointing

    According to the gospel we call Mark, today is the day Jesus is anointed by a woman. To us, she has no name. After Sunday’s dramatic rebuke of Rome, Monday’s trashing of the money-changers and dove-sellers, and Tuesday’s teaching at the Temple in which he humiliates and condemns the Temple leadership, Wednesday is a true…

  • What’s In a Name?

    a Homily for Proper 25B Text: Mark 10:46-52 A Healing Story Jesus heals people. At this point this seems like old news. Remember several chapters ago when Jesus healed the man of leprosy? Jesus urges the man to tell no one and instead, the blabbermouth runs into town and tells everybody about Jesus. It seems so…

  • Heaven Insurance (Eating Scripture)

    Eating Mark 10:17-31 There is so much to feast on this week, and the main course is certainly the part where Jesus eats the rich. But something curious is offered up in the first course. Something about a man seeking assurance from a holy man that he can attain eternal life. and the holy man doesn’t…

  • Who do you say that Jesus is?

    In Sunday’s gospel story, we had the famous pair of questions Jesus asks: Who do people say that I am? Who do you say that I am? As I was writing about this idea for our parish newsletter, I realized something important. These two questions have two more hidden questions, or more precisely, two hidden…

  • Two Questions About Jesus

    a Homily for Proper 19B Text: Mark 8:27-38 Jesus has it rough You have got to feel for Jesus. It was so long ago that he was baptized by John in the Jordan and he took up GOD’s call. So long since he gathered His disciples two-by-two. He has been teaching them so very long…

  • Deliver us from the presumption of pardon and not renewal

    Deliver us from the presumption of pardon and not renewal

    a Homily for Proper 11B Text: Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 [Sunday I preached without a script. This is an approximation of what I preached.] Sabbath Coming back from vacation, it is appropriate to get this gospel pericope about rest. Or lack there of it. It was just two weeks ago when we covered the story of…