Mark 13:24-37
Advent 1B
[…] Maybe this year it will be a stretch to get people to want to think about the usual, Hallmarky types of things given the grim realities of COVID-19, of probably facing the reality of not gathering with family and friends for Christmas even as most of us will not do in the U.S. for […]
Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26
Advent 4B
[…] is not the cheeriest message one could hear. Particularly in this time of 2020 as we are experiencing both the sorrow and fright of the pandemic of COVID-19 and also experiencing the tensions and sorrows of racial unrest in the wake of the unjust killing of more black people, we maybe are not overly […]
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
Easter 5A
[…] snip through this like a little girl making paper dolls). Of course, Psalm 31 still remains relevant in this time where most of us are still in COVID-19 quarantine and isolation and when most churches are still not able to gather. The idea of trusting in God and of placing the times of our […]
Psalm 130
Proper 5B
[…] an easy message. Not a message to be delivered tritely or lightly. But maybe just maybe it is the word we all need to hear in this COVID-19 time. O Church of Jesus Christ: put your hope in the Lord. Illustration Idea I have watched The Shawshank Redemption so often—all of it or […]
2 Corinthians 5:6-10, (11-13), 14-17
Proper 6B
[…] or progressives. It’s tempting to locate others’ primary identity in the color of our skin, stance on guns, or socio-economic status. Or think of the new labels COVID-19 have created. Mask wearers and those who refuse to wear masks. Those who have been vaccinated and those who refuse to be vaccinated. Those who view […]
James 5:13-20
Proper 21B
[…] supply and demand. Genuine community the word is in such short supply that the demand sometimes exceeds the supply. So many things isolated people long before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. The pandemic has only served to heighten many people’s sense of isolation and loneliness. I sometimes sense that it has turned some of us […]
Job 1:1, 2:1-10
Proper 22B
[…] not generally flatten the houses of mafia types and drug kingpins while leaving churches, synagogues, mosques, and the domiciles of the faithful standing. Pandemic flu outbreaks like COVID-19 don’t target the really greasy people who work for a given company while leaving untouched the kind and gentle souls on the payroll. Disaster and disease […]
1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26
1st Sunday after Christmas C
[…] accomplish the work of the Lord. Some things are not easy to look at or to see. But at the end of Year 2 of the global COVID-19 pandemic, we never need to look very far to see stuff we would just as soon not see. And it is not as though the other […]
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
Easter Day A
[…] this text to preach on or to weave into your Easter liturgy in some other way, then this fits well for this troubling Easter in 2020 when COVID-19 is forcing most—if not all—Christians around the world to do the decidedly counter-intuitive thing of not coming together to celebrate the resurrection. Maybe we all feel […]
James 5:7-10
Advent 3A
[…] much to make lives wobble and hearts flutter in the 21st century. People who are materially poor are hit especially hard by rampant inflation as well as COVID-19 that often rampages through needy communities. They also share more affluent people’s concerns about the effects of climate change, economic downturn and political bickering and infighting. […]
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