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Matthew 21:1-11
Palm Sunday A
Advent is the season of expectant waiting and hope, but could Palm Sunday be a mini-Advent of sorts? Through the first nine verses, there is clearly a hope and a building sense of anticipation about what is about to happen. Even when the questions come in verses 10-11, they come with a sense that things…
Philippians 2:5-11
Palm Sunday A
In some ways Philippians 2:5-11 resembles taxes and my beloved Detroit Tigers’ mediocrity: each predictably comes around once a year – at least to preachers who follow the Revised Common Lectionary. As a result, this is now at least the ninth time I’ve had the privilege of writing a commentary on this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson….
Romans 8:6-11
Lent 5A
Parts of this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson are somewhat mysterious. Preachers who feel the Spirit prompting us to proclaim its gospel aren’t helped by the fact that by beginning with verse 6 rather than verse 5, this Lesson begins in what seems like the middle of not just a paragraph, but also a thought. Preachers can…
John 11:11-45
Lent 5A
Resurrection stories in Lent really catch our attention. But really, the resurrection event is a backdrop for the experience of faith for a number of characters. The most prominent, of course, are our sisters Martha and Mary. The gospel writer tells us at the beginning of this story what happens at the beginning of the…
John 9:1-41
Lent 4A
Our ability to take a beautiful miracle and turn it into a trial of belonging is truly a pox upon our people. The idea that people make up stories about our sufferings and judge us is also a reason to be sad. But the hope that undergirds this passage is that Jesus heals, Jesus dispels…
Ephesians 5:8-14
Lent 4A
“Have nothing to do with [me synkoinoneite*] the fruitless [akarpois] deeds of darkness [skotous],” Paul admonishes Ephesus’ Christians in verses 11-12 of this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson. “But rather expose [elenchete] them. It is shameful [aischron] even to mention [legein] what the disobedient do in secret [kryphe].” While that warning is nearly two thousand years old,…
Romans 5:1-11
Lent 3A
Some of Jesus’ friends, including preachers, are so familiar with Paul’s professions in verses 6 and 8 that they’ve lost some of their power to startle us. “When we were still powerless [asthenon*],” the apostle marvels there, “Christ died [apethanen] for the ungodly [asebon].” “While we were still sinners [hamartolon],” he adds in verse 8,…
John 4:5-42
Lent 3A
The John lectionary narratives are especially long over the next few weeks. There is something lovely about simply sitting and reading a story together as a congregation and seeing what parts grab the community’s attention. In fact, that’s not a bad strategy for choosing where to put your focus as a preacher. For me, the…
John 6:24-35: Never Go Hungry: Proper 13B
In the Simon and Garfunkel song Mrs. Robinson, we hear the line, “Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you. What’s that you say, Mrs. Robinson? Joltin’ Joe has left and gone away.” Originally part of the soundtrack for the film The Graduate, the song became one of the…
Philippians 2:5-11: Shining Like Stars – Palm Sunday A
The story is told that one evening a man in a Dearborn, Michigan, restaurant bumped into no less than the famous Chrysler chairman, Lee Iacocca. “Oh, Mr. Iacocca,” the man exclaimed, “what an honor to meet you! Say, my name is Jack and I’m having a business dinner with some colleagues over there at that…
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