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1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Epiphany 4B
Anyone who has ever tried to cross a Lego- or toy-strewn room in the dark should have received hazardous duty pay. After all, relatively few pains match the discomfort created by stepping on a small toy. So what are such “stumbling blocks’” worst enemy? Any kind of light that leads to awareness and caution. Paul…
Mark 1:14-20
Epiphany 3B
The lectionary makes it a habit of giving us two weeks from two different gospels stories of Jesus calling his first disciples. Moving from John’s gospel to Mark’s, it’s as though our perspective in the calling narrative has changed to Jesus’s side of things. “Fresh” from the desert and the evil one’s temptations, Jesus is…
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Epiphany 3B
My family of origin frowned on few things more strongly than time-wasting. We were generally discouraged from doing frivolous things. My family of origin didn’t even waste our vacation time. We almost always either vacationed with an extended family member or visited at least one extended family member while on vacation. This Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson’s…
John 1:43-51
Epiphany 2B
Our lectionary text picks up in the midst of calling and witness narratives. After the prologue in verse 19, we start with the witness of John the Baptist (including his account of Jesus’s baptism, which isn’t recorded in John’s gospel) and then follow along as Jesus begins to call his disciples. He starts with brothers…
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Epiphany 2B
When Paul asserts that God’s dearly beloved people’s bodies are “a temple [naos]* of the Holy Spirit [Hagiou Pneumatos],” (19) he makes a claim that’s more extraordinary than most Christians may realize. This Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson’s preachers might consider helping our hearers more fully appreciate that claim’s astonishing nature. Christians as a “temple of the…
Acts 19:1-7
Epiphany 1B
It’s even more sad than ironic that baptism is at least arguably one of the most divisive issues among Jesus’ friends. Christians whose baptism the Spirit unites sometimes argue almost endlessly with each other about things like the nature, proper timing and efficacy of baptism. Among the questions churches and denominations try to answer about…
Mark 1:4-11
Epiphany 1B
If you were following the Gospel lectionary texts in December, then the first four verses of our text today will be familiar because they were also in the passage for the second Sunday of Advent. In my commentary for that week, one of the things I focused on was the fact that God decided that…
Galatians 4:4-7
Christmas 1B
Ask almost any school-aged Christian why we celebrated Christmas, and she’s likely to answer something like, “Because it was Jesus’ birthday!” While she might have a harder time identifying why Jesus’ birthday is important, most mature Christians know that Jesus’ birthday is important because he grew up to redeem us from our sins. On this…
Luke 2:22-40
Christmas 1B
We have a number of characters in this story. There’s the rather passive Jesus, who is brought to the Jerusalem for a dedication by Mary and Joseph. Then there’s Simeon and Anna, seemingly fixtures of the temple community. What links all of these characters is one trait: piety. Specifically, each participant’s piety is borne from…
Luke 1:26-38
Advent 4B
The last Sunday of Advent finally brings us to the Incarnate one himself. Well, sort of. Because this is also a calling story for Mary, the servant of God. Mary is a compelling character in the Scripture narrative. Her calling is like that of the prophets before her: a messenger from the Lord comes to…
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