Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Gospel, Luke 18:1-8 Luke 18:1-8 Does God hear us? Does God listen to us? He does. Psalm 65:2: “O You who hear prayer, to You all flesh will come.” At the outset of that hymn to God comes this sure...
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Psalm 121 Psalm 121 I love Psalm 121. I think it grew on me during my days of hospice chaplaincy, which I loved. It became a regular part of my committal services...
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Old Testament, Genesis 32:22-30 Genesis 32:22-30 “Down to earth.” It’s a phrase we use to show that something is every day, understandable, and on our level. In our Old...
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Gospel, Luke 17:11-19 Luke 17:11-19 It isn’t unusual to find examples in the Bible of those we might think would be the last to have “faith” in the promises of a Jewish Messiah. The thief on...
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Epistle, 2 Timothy 2:1-13 2 Timothy 2:1-13 Pressure. Do you feel it, Christian brother and sister? Pressure this time from without, from the world around us. Lately, in my teaching I have been focusing on the Body of...
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Old Testament, Ruth 1:1-19a Ruth 1:1-19a God doesn’t play cards. At least I don’t think he does. Just a nod toward the title above that we are not talking about bluffing or laying...
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost: Gospel, Luke 17:1-10 Luke 17:1-10 The suggested portion of this week’s gospel points to “Mustard Seed Faith.” It is a great text, but my attention went instead to the...
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost: Epistle, 2 Timothy 1:1-14 2 Timothy 1:1-14 As I was reading through the epistle lesson for the week I had one of those “look at that” moments I sometimes have when reading a familiar...
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Gospel, Luke 16:19-31 Luke 16:19-31 I love this parable. Probably for more than one reason, but I love the summary most of all. While we all love Jesus’ stories and his bringing us the...
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Psalm 146 Psalm 146 There are certain phrases, even phrases from the pages of Scripture that fly off our tongues without much thought. One of those is “Praise the...
