Rev. Chelsey Harmon lives in Vancouver, BC and is a bivocational pastor at The Bridge Community Church (CRC) in Langley, BC. Chelsey is also on staff at Churches Learning Change, a non-profit that aims to help congregations and leaders pursue personal and congregational transformation. She earned her M.Div. at Calvin Theological Seminary (2009), a ThM in Spiritual Theology at Regent College (2023) and is currently a part-time PhD student at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Divinity where she studies historical examples of Trinitarian mysticism and theology.
Chelsey has been writing sermon commentaries for the CEP website since 2019.
Luke 16:1-13
Commentary
Proper 20C
This parable is one of the most difficult to get to the bottom of. Why is Jesus seemingly praising a shady businessperson? The ‘hero’ of the story steals from his boss in order to curry favour and ensure his future with other people all too happy to cheat the system! Though it is not part…
Luke 15:1-10
Commentary
Proper 19C
These two parables—even without the more often read story that follows them—have a bit of a bite to them all on their own. More likely than not, we come to them with hearts and minds more like the Pharisees and scribes than we do like the tax collectors and sinners. Many of us sitting in…
Luke 14.25-33 2025
Commentary
Proper 18C
We’re continuing on the road with Jesus this summer and a large crowd has joined us. As though to weed out a few folks, Jesus decides to remind them what following along with him truly means. What seems like disparate instructions and examples are actually tied together by one central purpose: look out for the…
Luke 14:1, 7-14 2025
Commentary
Proper 17C
I love how this scene opens with a note about how closely Jesus was being watched. When you’re watching someone else very closely, you can miss the thing right under your nose: that they are closely observing you as well. But the dinner guests and hosts probably thought nothing of the way they were acting…
Luke 13:10-17 2025
Commentary
Proper 16C
To tell you the truth, this encounter is the Ordinary Time text that strikes the most fear into me as a church professional. The ease with which this synagogue leader takes out his frustration about the “wrong business” being done on the Sabbath, the way he automatically goes into the mode of stealing the woman’s…
Luke 12:49-56
Commentary
Proper 15C
As we continue in a time of great polarity and hostility, many of us know all too well the feeling of “father against son… and daughter against mother.” Does Jesus’s own frustration make us feel any better about the situation? Not really. But his commitment to the struggle can bolster our own. Jesus’s teaching and…
Luke 12:32-40
Commentary
Proper 14C
“Do not be afraid… You also must be ready…” These opening and closing statements from Christ tie this week to last week’s passage. The lectionary skips over another meaningful message about our possessions and our fears and hones in on our stewardship, or being rich towards God through our obedience. Last week, the rich farmer…
Luke 12:13-21
Commentary
Proper 13C
Jesus is speaking to a rather large crowd that is eager to hear from him—according to 12.1, they are even trampling one another to get close. Somehow, a voice from that crowd rises above the rest and the question asked and sparks Jesus’s warning about greed. What Jesus says about greed relates to what he…
Luke 11:1-13
Commentary
Proper 12C
This rich collection of Jesus’s teaching on prayer is made all the more significant given the passage that we looked at last Sunday. At Martha and Mary’s house, Jesus encouraged the women to sit at his feet and choose the better portion, being with God. Now, Jesus describes a practice of being with God in…
Luke 10.38-42
Commentary
Proper 11C
As soon as I read this week’s text, I remembered the last person who was described as sitting at the feet of Jesus: the Gerasene man after the demons were exorcised (Luke 8.26-37). If there is a place to be that is good, it is at God’s feet. At his feet, we are people who…
About Chelsey Harmon