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Ephesians 1:3-14
Proper 10B
Comments and Observations In the last two years the Revised Common Lectionary has taken us to this very text two other times, both around Christmas, that festive time in the world’s and the church’s calendar. Now we’re in Ordinary Time. Here in the United States we’ve just enjoyed the hoopla of the Fourth of July,…
Mark 6:1-13
Proper 9B
This lection from Mark 6 provides a curious set of contrasts as well as a wonderful irony. First, we twice read the word “amazed” here: first in verse 2 and then again in verse 6. Jesus here is doing what he’s been doing ever since Mark 1 and 2 when he began his public ministry…
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Proper 9B
Professional football players are the best at it, I think. Picture the chest thumping after a quarterback sack, or the trash talking after a safety intercepts a pass right in front of the league’s top receiver, or the end zone dance of a running back after a touchdown. Can you see Seattle Seahawks’ cornerback, Richard…
Mark 5:21-43
Proper 8B
Jesus was someone people wanted to touch and be touched by. But in the case of Jesus, such touches were about far more than the people’s desire to make contact with somebody famous. Jesus’ touch was said to have healing powers. As we can see in this story, some had concluded that Jesus was a…
2 Corinthians 8:7-15
Proper 8B
A sermon on this text will touch nerves, because it touches money. Many preachers don’t want to touch that subject with a ten foot pole. But it’s a good thing that the lectionary confronts us with this text on this 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time, because money looms large in every Christian’s life as we…
Mark 4:35-41
Proper 7B
For men ostensibly accustomed to being out on the water, the disciples sure panicked over the weather often enough in the gospels. The only calm one in all those storms-at-sea situations was the land-lubber carpenter from Nazareth. So also here in Mark 4: With just a word the Jesus who had not been sufficiently bothered…
2 Corinthians 6:1-13
Proper 7B
This is a tough text to preach, because it is so very personal and situational. It’s all about Paul’s ministry and it is obviously addressed to a specific church (see verse 11, “We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians….”). Whenever we preach on an epistle, we are reading someone else’s mail. But this particular pericope…
Mark 4:26-34
Proper 6B
Like the message they convey, the two parables in this part of Mark 4 are mighty small. This is no Parable of the Prodigal Son that takes up the better part of a whole chapter. Jesus manages to convey something about the smallness of the kingdom via two stories that are themselves pretty tiny. And…
2 Corinthians 5:6-10, (11-13), 14-17
Proper 6B
“Life is difficult. This is a great truth, perhaps the greatest truth.” Those opening lines of M. Scott Peck’s bestselling, The Road Less Travelled, were a sensation back in the 1970’s. Now, as the GEICO insurance commercial says, “Everybody knows that.” What people don’t know is how to deal with the difficulty. That’s what Paul…
Mark 3:20-35
Proper 5B
There is an old saying that sometimes a person “can’t see the forest for the trees.” The idea is that sometimes we become so wrapped up in one thing that we lose sight of the larger picture. Sometimes this can be humorous. So on a TV show you may see a man who is obsessed…
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