Rev. Meg Jenista Kuykendall lives in Philadelphia, PA and is an ordained minister in the Reformed tradition. She earned her M.Div at Calvin Theological Seminary (2008) and her ThM, also at CTS (2019). She spent 15 years pastoring churches in Kalamazoo, MI, and Washington DC. Currently, Meg is studying for her PhD in public theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, with a particular focus on the intersection of political discipleship and pulpit ministry. She balances out her PhD research by reading Sandra Boynton and Mo Willems books with her young son, cooking with her husband, and exploring their new home of Philadelphia.
Acts 17:22-31
Commentary
Easter 6A
Trouble in the Text The Apostle Paul had just taken the express train out of Berea. The Christians there showed him wonderful hospitality but the religious zealots from nearby Thessaloniki came into town to rough him up. So his peeps bundled him off to Athens, where Scripture tells us, he was waiting for Silas and…
Acts 7:55-60
Commentary
Easter 5A
The Lectionary text is only 5 verses long but it is in the context of one and a half chapters telling us the story of Stephen. Making connections to the five verses in the Lectionary, I will use my commentary to tell this larger story. Illustration Reformation scholar Kenneth Woo’s newly released book, Refugee Calvin,…
Acts 2:42-47
Commentary
Easter 4A
Illustration A magazine profile of celebrity chef turned daytime television host, Rachael Ray, boasted this headline on their cover: “Rachael Ray finds inspiration in cooking her family and her dog.” It matters where you put the comma. Giving Rachel Ray the benefit of the doubt, one assumes she likes three things — cooking (COMMA) her…
Acts 2:14, 36-41
Commentary
Easter 3A
Illustration I was, it may surprise some of you to learn, a theatre geek in high school. Of course I loved to be on stage performing for an audience (I know, right? Shocker.) But I also helped with costumes, did some stage managing and student directing. But my favorite part wasn’t the flush of pride,…
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Commentary
Easter 2A
Commentary: Note: although this Lectionary text takes only a portion of Peter’s sermon, this commentary reaches to both sides a bit to make some general comments on the content of the sermon as well as the kind of people/the nature of the church it intends to birth. Qualities of a Spirit-Filled Sermon What does a…
Jeremiah 31:1-6
Commentary
Easter Day A
Illustration: Have you ever experienced a moment when time stood still? Maybe you were afraid to breathe for fear of breaking the magic of the moment. It’s the stuff of hospital bedsides – the passing on of death and the passing into life of birth. It’s the good news of a proposal, the announcement of…
Isaiah 50:4-9
Commentary
Palm Sunday A
Illustration: America loves winners. We like it when our teams win. We celebrate the victors. We talk about our children’s successes in our Christmas cards and humble brag about promotions on social media. America celebrates winners. And the American church has, largely, followed suit. Of course, it’s obvious in the health-and-wealth “gospel” scene but we’ve…
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Commentary
Lent 5A
Lectionary Connection Chekhov’s Hope There is an adage of storytelling that comes from the world of theatre and it goes like this: any gun brought on stage in the first act must be fired by the final curtain. This is a direct reference to Anton Chekhov’s play, The Seagull, in which a character brings a…
I Samuel 16:1-13
Commentary
Lent 4A
A Moment of Clarity Up until this point in the narrative, the narrator has most often relied on Samuel’s reports of God’s messages instead of, as we saw in his call story (I Samuel 3) God’s direct speech. A snippet of direct speech breaks through when Samuel first sees Saul and understands God’s intention to…
Exodus 17:1-7
Commentary
Lent 3A
Pastor’s Cut It is almost too bad that we are expected to preach this text to our congregations because, really, this is a story for pastors. Pastors following God’s guidance (wishing the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night was still a thing) in order to get God’s people where they are supposed…
About Meg Jenista