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John 6:1-21
Proper 12B
Comments and Observations: Hang on to your hats, preaching partners, because we are beginning a 5-week odyssey in John 6. Granted this is an important chapter but 5 whole weeks of preaching sermons on variations of Jesus being the bread of life can be a bit taxing. Having skipped over the Feeding of the 5,000…
Ephesians 3:14-21
Proper 12B
Comments and Observations As I’ve said before, there is nothing ordinary about Ordinary Time, and that is surely the case with this text. This is an extraordinary prayer for Ordinary Time. Paul has just described the church’s calling in cosmic terms. The unity of Gentile and Jew in the church is intended by God to…
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
Proper 11B
Comments and Observations “Be specific! Show, Don’t Tell!” Those are fairly common pieces of advice from me when I grade student sermons. Generalities, undefined words like “this” or “that,” brief lists that quickly conclude with “and so on” or “et cetera” just don’t cut it. The concrete and the specific always trump the vague and…
Ephesians 2:11-22
Proper 11B
Comments and Observations If ever there were a text that resonates with life today, it is this ancient word. In this text Paul answers the burning question at the heart of the immigration debate in America. What is the right path to full citizenship? Of course, Paul is not talking about full citizenship in a…
Mark 6:14-29
Proper 10B
Comments and Observations Every day the news contains sad and tawdry stories not too far removed from this lection in Mark 6. It’s altogether too typical. Here in Mark 6 we learn that the last great Old Testament prophet and the first great New Testament gospel herald, John the Baptist himself, was done in because…
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…
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