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Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Epiphany 6A
I’m not sure God cares much whether we choose, for example, to eat oatmeal or fresh fruit for breakfast. However, God does very deeply care, in some cases even more than we naturally do, about some of our choices. This might provide Deuteronomy 30’s preachers and teachers an opportunity to explore with worshipers and students…
Psalm 112:1-9 (10)
Epiphany 5A
Well, they did it again. I mean the compilers of the lectionary. For the second week in a row, the lectionary returns to a Psalm that we studied less than half a year ago. I know, I’m beginning to sound like one of those “grumpy old men” who complain about everything. But, really, with 150…
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
Epiphany 5A
God expects our lifestyle to reflect our worship. That is to say, God’s not pleased when God’s children act one way on Sunday, but quite a different way during the rest of the week. Isaiah 58 oozes frustration. Clearly Israel is frustrated. After all, she assumes that she takes God very seriously. Israel claims to…
Psalm 15
Epiphany 4A
Psalm 15 opens with a question that will trouble a lot of people in many congregations. It’s a question put to God. Now, questioning God is not a problem for most Christians these days. In fact, it’s much in vogue. Folks like David Dark speak eloquently about the necessity of asking questions if our faith…
Micah 6:1-8
Epiphany 4A
What do you give to the person who already has everything? It’s not just a question for Christmas, birthday or other gift giving. It’s also, in some ways at the heart of the Old Testament lesson the Lectionary appoints for this Sunday: What do you give to the One who already owns everything? Micah 6:4-5…
Psalm 27:1, 4-9
Epiphany 3A
It was Emily Dickinson who clearly enunciated one of the great principles of effective preaching: “Tell the truth, but tell it slant.” Most everyone who hears your sermons already knows the truth. Thus, you’ll have to find a new way to tell it so they will listen to the “old, old story.” No, I didn’t…
Isaiah 9:1-4
Epiphany 3A
In the northern hemisphere this time of year is characterized, in part, by darkness. While daylight is already beginning to push that darkness farther and farther back, people sometimes think of January as one of the darkest and, as a result, bleakest seasons of the year. That’s part of what makes Isaiah 9 an appropriate…
Psalm 40:1-11
Epiphany 2A
“The correct ‘voice’ for Psalm 40 is not in doubt,” says Patrick Henry Reardon in his Christ in the Psalms. “We know from Hebrews 10 that these are words springing from the heart of Christ our Lord and have reference to the sacrificial obedience of his Passion and death.” That may be ultimately true and…
Isaiah 49:1-7
Epiphany 2A
“I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing” (Isaiah 49:3) might be a motto of more than a few of the pastors and teachers I know. Even on a Sunday so close to the start of a new year, some of us wrestle with the kind of…
Psalm 29
Epiphany 1A
Anyone who regularly preaches on the Lectionary knows all too well that the there are times when the choice of readings doesn’t make sense. That is not the case for this First Sunday after Epiphany when we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus. The “main” reading from the Gospels is, of course, about the baptism of…
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