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Philippians 1:21-30
Proper 20A
Earlier this summer I was summoned to the hospital room of a Christian whom doctors had recently told was dying. Penny and Andy (not their real names) were trying to wrap their heads around the news that doctors could do little more for her than try to keep her relatively comfortable. This news provoked in…
Philippians 1:3-11
Advent 2C
As was the case last week and is the case throughout Advent, this week’s Revised Common Lectionary Epistolary Lesson seems to pay only minimal attention to that to which many of Jesus’ friends pay so much attention during December. Philippians 1 devotes little attention to Christ’s first and second comings. I previously suggested that this…
Philippians 1:21-30
Proper 20A
John Wooden was the hugely successful coach of America’s UCLA’s men’s basketball team. He also sought to be a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. Wooden once famously said, “The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.” This Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson’s Paul would probably have agreed. After all,…
Philippians 1:3-11
Advent 2C
Jesus’ friends would do well to take at least some of our Advent cues from children. This is, after all, a season of waiting. However, children especially sometimes struggle to wait patiently during Advent. In fact, some of them have an almost laser-focus on that which they await. Adults may share some of children’s impatience…
Philippians 1:21-30
Proper 20A
One of the most lyrical expressions of Christian hope is embedded in the first Question and Answer of the Heidelberg Catechism. There Reformed Christians answer the question, “What is your only comfort in life and in death?” with the lovely, “That I am not my own, but belong in body and soul, in life and…
Philippians 1:3-11
Advent 2C
This second Sunday of the month of December seems like an appropriate time to explore Philippians 1:3-11. Its theme of thanksgiving is, after all, consistent with the Thanksgiving holiday that Americans recently celebrated. What’s more, this Sunday is also near the beginning of the Advent season in which we look forward to “the day of…
Philippians 1:21-30
Proper 20A
They say a death sentence has a way of focusing the mind, and certainly the Apostle Paul could attest to this. He is in prison as he writes to the Philippians and even though he just went out of his way to assure the Philippians both that he was doing fine and that even the…
Philippians 1:3-11
Advent 2C
Comments, Observations, and Questions Of the four lectionary readings for this Second Sunday of Advent, this passage from Philippians gives the lightest and least obvious perspective on Advent. I say, least obvious, because apart from the two references to “the day of Christ,” there’s no clear Advent character to Paul’s words. These two references occur…
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