Home »
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Proper 24C
Paul begins this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson by summoning Timothy to “Continue in [mene en*].” It is a call to persevere, in the paraphrase The Message offers, an invitation to “stick with.” If it were an American country western song, it might sound something like, “Keep on trucking.” Verse 14a’s “But” [de] connects that summons to…
Luke 18:1-18
Proper 24C
The way this parable needs to be interpreted is given to us right at the beginning. Luke says that “Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.” To keep doing something that doesn’t seem to be working—yet—and to not be discouraged to the point of giving up,…
Luke 17:11-19
Proper 23C
This is a great text for those of us preaching in Canada since it happens to be Thanksgiving weekend. Of course, it’s a good text for all of us around the world, but the thing that sets this leper apart from the other nine was his act of gratitude. What better theme for the holiday?…
2 Timothy 2:8-15
Proper 23C
While verse 14 falls near the end of this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson, it’s at least arguably central to it. After all, while translations like the NIV separate it with a paragraph break from the rest of this Lesson, it can be seen as speaking to both what follows and precedes that break that translators have…
Luke 17:5-10
Proper 22C
When I was a teenager, a well-meaning adult wanted to encourage me in the faith with a small gift. Obviously bought at the Christian bookstore, it was a dark blue pen on a matching dark blue lanyard and it had an actual mustard seed encased in the cap with verse 6 written in mustard yellow…
2 Timothy 1:1-14
Proper 22C
It has been so dry in the northeastern United States that even the slightest or most carelessly tossed spark can easily turn into a destructive conflagration. As a result, on a recent vacation in New England, my wife and I saw countless reminders to be very careful in the handling of outdoor fires. One of…
Luke 16:19-31
Proper 21C
We jump right into Jesus telling a story without knowing what has prompted it. Verses 14-17 indicate that this story comes about as Jesus is talking to the Pharisees about keeping the law. An important detail that connects this passage with the others we’ve been working through this summer is that the Pharisees were “lovers…
1 Timothy 6:6-19
Proper 21C
Robert Frost entitled his arguably most well-known poem “The Road Not Taken.” It begins, famously, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” That phrase likely, in turn, helped inspire M. Scott Peck’s arguably most famous book’s title: The Road…
Lent 5A: Just About Everywhere
In one of her short stories the writer Annie Dillard has a scene in which a family is sadly gathered at a grave to commit a loved one’s body to the earth. At one point the minister intones the familiar words from I Corinthians 15, “Where, O Death, is thy sting?” Upon hearing that, one…
Christmas Day A: To You
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt once published some very intriguing data on what he calls “elevation,” which is the opposite of disgust. We all know that there are any number of things that disgust us or cause us to feel revulsion. When we witness hypocrisy, cruelty, betrayal, and the like, we recoil–there are even certain physical sensations…
Content related to New Testament