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The Saints Unbound
But I wonder, if we listen close, if we don’t hear words, we’ll hear weeping. Weeping for the loved one lost? Weeping for GOD’s own? Weeping for our pain and suffering and confusion? Weeping because we haven’t listened. Mary, Martha, Lazarus and the Light of the World All Saints’ Day B | John 11:32-44 Sisters…
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How a blind beggar became the greatest disciple
This final moment has a blind man in front of them, but can they see him? He is shouting for Jesus, but can they hear him? Is the man like a tree, walking to them? Are his shouts like the buzz of a mosquito? Do they not understand yet, even now, at the end of…
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It is not so among you
Jesus shares with them what the Kingdom of GOD is like, GOD’s Great Economy, not so they have something to look forward to later, but so that they would live in it now. Right here. On the road to Jerusalem. The Great Sort has already begun Proper 24B | Mark 10:35-45 The Approach Before we…
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Sermon as Teaching
My Dad’s a good preacher. He isn’t the lift the roof off the rafters type. Nor is he egg-heady with scattered references to German theologians. And he isn’t a daily living preacher, either. He doesn’t do genre. He does story and he tries to make sense of the gospel and what people are dealing with…
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What the Kingdom doesn’t look like
Simply getting rid of our stuff isn’t the action Jesus is calling for. Not exactly. Though it is certainly much closer than “GOD wants you to be rich.” Love and inheritance Proper 23B | Mark 10:17-31 A mind-blowing teaching We have arrived in Judea. Days ago we’ve predicted the Passion and watched Jesus transfigured on…
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Preach
“Woe is me if I preach not the gospel” Outside the chapel, Paul’s words belie the most simple of Christian conditions. The call to serve GOD through Christ is deeply personal. “Woe is me,” we might argue, “not woe is we.” Then we keep going. “Woe is me If I preach not the gospel.” This is on…
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Possessing the Kingdom
He’s not mincing words. The Kingdom belongs to them. Not the disciples. Not the Pharisees. Not the Romans. The children. We need to hear these words. How our focus on law and politics misses the real revelation Proper 22B | Mark 10:2-16 The Long Walk is Almost Over The walk from Caesarea Philippi to Jerusalem is…
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Learning Love
It seems that they don’t want the world that Jesus is offering: the upside down economy of GOD’s divine fellowship of faith. They want to rule. Following Jesus into a different understanding of love Proper 20B | Mark 9:30-37 Returning to the Passion We remember from last week that Jesus and the disciples had gone…