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Jesus is risen! Now what?
As the candles are snuffed from our Easter liturgy and the only reminders of our celebration are the mountain of candy wrappers and plastic strips approximating grass, we go back to our lives as a return to normal, as if nothing is different. And the irony is lost on us all. We go about our…
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Seeing the Lord
The resurrection and how Jesus wants to be known Easter | John 20:1-18 Earlier this week We have come to the end of a long, truly holy week. So much has happened in the story since we gathered last week (was it really only a week ago?) and many of us could benefit from…
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He Lives!
How the empty tomb provides all the ending we need The Great Vigil of Easter | Mark 16:1-8 He isn’t here They bought spices, then brought them to the tomb, to anoint him. Three women: Mary, Mary, and Salome. And they come out in the dark, shortly after the sun fades out of view on…
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Sabbath: Holy Saturday
“The Sabbath” Read the Text: Mark 15:42-16:1 OK, I cheated. There is no text for Holy Saturday. It goes from the evening before the Sabbath to the day after. No Sabbath. Writers and theologians have been searching for the missing day for centuries. One of my favorite apocryphal stories comes from Piers Plowman, a medieval poem that…
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Are we even alive?
a homily for Proper 27C Text: Luke 20:27-38 What are they talking about? This gospel isn’t what we take it for. The people that put together the Revised Common Lectionary have us jumping into Holy Week here. Last week’s story about Zacchaeus, the wee little man who climbed a sycamore tree is the first half of…
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Uncovering Love
a Sermon for Easter 5C Text: John 13:31-35 Love Each Other. Too Obvious? Sometimes we have a selection from scripture that is too obvious. We understand where Jesus is going and what He’s getting at. Today is one of those days. Jesus gives a new commandment, something he pretty much never does outside of this,…
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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.…
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What I Might Have Preached
Since I was on vacation, I didn’t preach this morning. The gospel reading was John 20:19-31, known to many as the Doubting Thomas passage. There are a ton of ways to preach this one, particularly if you aren’t wedded to the idea that Thomas is an unbelieving jackass. Here are a few thoughts that struck…