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Psalm 19
Lent 3B
As I begin this piece, I am thinking about Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Underground Railroad, which follows two escaped slaves, Caesar and Cora, as they journey on a literal underground railroad to the north and freedom. On this Third Sunday of Lent we are a little less than half way on our journey…
Exodus 20:1-17
Lent 3B
If we were to poll North Americans about what God is like, most of those who believe in God might say God is nice or forgiving. If we were to poll them about what God looks like, many would answer God looks like a loving grandparent or kind uncle or aunt. How can we know…
Psalm 22:23-31
Lent 2B
Psalm 22 is the quintessential Lenten Psalm. Most obviously, Jesus quoted verse 1 on the cross and many scholars think that he quoted the rest of the Psalm throughout that dark time of God-forsakenness. Certainly, the Psalm has lines that perfectly fit other moments of his crucifixion. And the first Christians used this Psalm more…
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Lent 2B
Our names are very important to many of us. We might even argue that they come close as close as anything to identifying who we really are. We are, at least in some ways, our names. Names have throughout measured time had meaning. God asks Adam to name each creature as God creates it, so…
Psalm 25:1-10
Lent 1B
Psalm 25 is widely considered to be an ugly duckling among the Psalms. At first (and second and third) reading, it seems to lack cohesion and logical progression. But like the proverbial ugly duckling, there’s something beautiful here waiting to be discovered. It begins when one reads the Hebrew text and discovers that we have…
Genesis 9:8-17
Lent 1B
21st century society seems to largely believe that people have the world and its future squarely in our own hands. They claim that if we don’t somehow make history turn out right, it simply won’t happen. Yet experience suggests that if it’s up to people to make things right, we’ve got real trouble on our…
Psalm 50:1-6
Epiphany 6B
At first glance Psalm 50 seems an odd choice for the celebration of Christ’s Transfiguration. This last Sunday of the Epiphany season should be filled with talk of Christ’s glory finally revealed to his followers, as in the Gospel reading for today from Mark 9. The reading from the Epistles sings about the “glory of…
2 Kings 2:1-12
Epiphany 6B
I once preached on this text during a worship service in which our church installed new leaders whom we call elders and deacons. At the time it seemed like its story of the transition from Elijah to Elisha’s leadership seemed appropriate. Yet the Lectionary ends the Old Testament lesson it appoints for this Sunday with…
Psalm 147:1-11, 20c
Epiphany 5B
Psalm 147 is the second Psalm in the so-called Hallelujah chorus that ends the book of Psalms. It is part of the final triumphant response of God’s people to their difficult experience with God in a hostile world. Gone now are all the “why’s” and “how long’s,” the threats of enemies and the crises of…
Isaiah 40:21-31
Epiphany 5B
Grasshoppers are interesting creatures. While they have wings, just like eagles, they can’t soar like eagles. Yet grasshoppers can really jump. If people could jump like them, we’d be able to leap more than 40 yards. Yet while grasshoppers can be colorful, heads that are relatively tiny also house their brains. If you walk through…
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