Tag: Homily

  • The Water and the Land

    Jesus’s response to the crowd, Pharisees, and the Canaanite Woman reveals how hard it is to be perfect and how ridiculous the pursuit really is a Homily for Proper 15 A Text: Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28   on the water, on the land Jesus is walking along while some crazy woman is shouting at Him. Shouting.…

  • Finding Abundance in Deserted Places

    Finding Abundance in Deserted Places

    Our Part in the Feeding of the Multitudes The challenge of the story as we receive it is that we think its all about Jesus and His magic hands. The Eucharistic metaphor gets us thinking that for sure. But the story isn’t about reversing scarcity, but finding abundance in deserted places. a Homily for Proper 13 A Text: Matthew 14:13-21…

  • Hiding the Kingdom

    Jesus’s parables are dependent on seeing and understanding Proper 12A  |  Matthew 13:31-33,44-52 The Hiding At the beginning of this chapter, we’re told Jesus is so swarmed by people that He jumps into a boat to teach the crowds surrounding Him on the shore. There so many people He has to put a barrier up; to…

  • There’s still hope – Jesus, the yoke, and all of that shouting!

    a Homily for Proper 9 A Text: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30   Dance, Puppet! “It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another” This is how Jesus speaks to “the current generation,” His generation. Returning from seeing John the Baptist who summoned Him, to question Him. John, asking Jesus of Nazareth: Are you…

  • Welcoming is Loving

    Why the word you want is proclaim, not communicate a Homily for Proper 8 A Text: Matthew 10:40-42 Getting into it I struggled with this text a lot. Way more than any text in months. You wouldn’t guess that three little verses would be so hard. And you certainly wouldn’t expect a lectionary text about welcoming…

  • The Divine Household – Jesus, division, and a sword that cuts injustice

    a Homily for Proper 7 A Text: Matthew 10:24-39 Jesus paints a picture of the divine household that appears frightening: talk of swords and a divided family. But it isn’t the household that frightens, but the realization that our homes aren’t the the true household.     Scripture’s many doors This morning’s part of the story…

  • Making Us Whole – How the Great Commission redeems

    a Homily for Trinity Sunday Text: Matthew 28:16-20 Incomplete We return this week to the Gospel According to Matthew, for this writer’s resurrection story. We normally don’t think of this passage that way; as a story of resurrection. We’re focused on the writers we call Luke and John. Their accounts are different. More story-like. These…

  • Telling Stories  –  The Spirit, the Gospel, and Moving On  (Pentecost)

    Telling Stories – The Spirit, the Gospel, and Moving On (Pentecost)

    a Homily for The Day of  Pentecost Text: Acts 2:1-21   Into the Unknown There are those moments when we read scripture that, if you’re anything like me, you are saying “Yeah…I’m not sure I would’ve done that.” Last week, we read about how Jesus left the disciples, disappearing behind a cloud. The disciples went back…