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Stumble
It’s about other people There’s a challenging phrase Jesus uses in the gospel of Mark: stumbling block. He tells his followers not to be a stumbling block: the block positioned at someone’s feet that trips them. That causes them to stumble and fall. While it is easy to think Jesus doesn’t want us to get…
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Obstacles – A reflection for Proper 21B
For SundayEighteenth Sunday after Pentecost Collect O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,…
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Generous and Just
Jesus’s parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16) doesn’t seem fair. But that’s because we don’t want it to be. Proper 20A | Matthew 20:1-16 For those who have not heard this gospel story before, or hardly recognize it, you can probably tell right away it is one of the most hated parables…
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Removing Our Stumbling Blocks
In Matthew 17 and 18, Jesus reveals the way stumbling blocks get in the way of God’s mission. Including our obsessions with rules and borders. Proper 18A | Matthew 18:15-20 A few years ago, a celebrity pastor got in trouble. He was the darling of the new reformed movement for his high doctrine, aggressive style,…
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Stumbling Block
We are all pretty obsessed with sin. Whether or not we believe that’s true, we are. Sin inspires us. It inspires us to believe remarkable things about GOD and nature and all of creation. For some that it is all depraved and drenched in showers of evil. For some, it is to see creation through…
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Embody faith
We must read this in the context of Jesus teaching about the children. About the poor, the disadvantaged, the disempowered, those stripped of full humanity and equality in the world. The physical, living faith of following Jesus Proper 21B | Mark 9:38-50 Following Jesus The big theme of the last two weeks continues: identity. Jesus’s…