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Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Epiphany 3B
If you pay attention to the liturgical year, you know that we are still in the season of Epiphany. At first reading, I wondered what the story of Jonah has to do with Epiphany. Upon further meditation, I saw that it is a revelation of the grace of God in the most unexpected places– at…
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
Epiphany 2B
An acquaintance of mine used to like to end his prayers with a half-witty, half-wry final intercession. If praying at table, his prayers were mostly typical . . . until the conclusion. “Dear Lord, we thank you for this food, for this day, for your goodness to us. Be with us as we fellowship at…
1 Samuel 3:1-10, (11-20)
Epiphany 2B
On this Second Sunday after Epiphany, the parallels between this Old Testament reading and the Gospel reading (John 1:43-51) are obvious and instructive. Both are about calling, of Samuel and of the first disciples. Both are about God revealing himself, through his spoken word and through the Word made flesh. Both calls evoke a life…
Genesis 1:1-5
Epiphany 1B
This First Sunday after Epiphany celebrates the Baptism of Jesus, that spectacular epiphany of his glory as he began his public ministry. All of the Lectionary readings for this Sunday were chosen because they have to do with water, whether the primeval waters of Genesis 1 or the waters of the Mediterranean that spawn a…
Psalm 147:12-20
Christmas 2B
Two rather striking features to this psalm leap out at you. First, there is the singularly positive, sunny statements about how God has strengthened Jerusalem, given peace within Israel’s borders, and just generally provides a warm and safe environment for God’s people. The second striking feature is the celebration at the end of Psalm 147…
Jeremiah 31:7-14
Christmas 2B
It takes so long for Christmas to get here. We wait and wait through the long season of Advent for the coming of the Lord. Then in one day we celebrated his coming, and we’re done. No wonder many non-liturgical Christians simply ignore Advent and spend a month celebrating Christmas. Such a miraculous event deserves…
Psalm 148
Christmas 1B
Some years back at a worship service we used St. Francis of Assisi’s poem “Canticle of the Sun” as part of a responsive reading. There was, alas, a slight typo in the bulletin that made it sound at one point as though we were worshiping Mother Earth. This led a rather conservative member of my…
Isaiah 61:10-62:3
Christmas 1B
If we can successfully deal with a couple of problems in this Lectionary reading, we can preach a sermon on it that will address a perennial and painful question on this First Sunday after Christmas. The first problem is the same one we stumbled upon two Sundays ago when we focused on Isaiah 61:1-3 and…
Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26
Advent 4B
Most of what makes Psalm 89 such an interesting poem cannot be seen if you restrict yourself to just the verses that the Lectionary has carved out of the psalm’s full 52 verses. Because this poem that begins in such an upbeat tone and with such a full-throated desire to sing praise to God for…
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