Mark 1:4-11
Epiphany 1B
Fans of Peter Jackson’s films in The Lord of the Rings trilogy will recall the opening sequence in the final film, The Return of the King. As the movie opens, we are taken back hundreds of years from the main action of the trilogy to the time when Smeagol finds the Ring of power, murdering…
Isaiah 40:21-31
Epiphany 5B
Sample sermon: “What Can You Reasonably Expect from God?” I once preached this sermon, focusing particularly on the beloved verse 31. I received a phone call the other day from a modern-day daughter of Job, whom I will call Mary. At one time Mary had been a pastor’s wife with 2 young children and a…
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Epiphany 4B
Talk about your wheel within a wheel (and perhaps within yet another wheel at that!) As Robert Jenson has pointed out, Deuteronomy is the one part of the Bible that is itself presented as a sermon. So when a pastor preaches on Deuteronomy, she is already doing a sermon based on another sermon. But now…
1 Samuel 3:1-20
Epiphany 2B
Comments and Observations Over the last quarter-century, audio, visual, and computer technology has advanced more rapidly than our ability to prevent these gizmos from taking over the minds of our youth (and of some of us not-so-young too!!). Not so long ago, parents who wanted to monitor what their kids saw or listened to had…
Genesis 1:1-5
Epiphany 1B
Comments and Observations “The first day.” That is how this Year B Lectionary text concludes. There was a morning and there was an evening and together they constituted “the first day.” Of course, even in the text of Genesis it’s difficult to know just what that means. Within the sequence of just these first 5…
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…
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Epiphany 4B
Those who take a deep enough whiff of Deuteronomy 18 may detect at least a hint of death clinging to it. In fact, we might even say that the scent of death both lingers within and bookends the Old Testament lesson the Lectionary appoints for this Sunday. The lesson begins innocently enough, though (again!) right…
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Epiphany 3B
Sometimes actions have surprisingly pleasant results. A soccer players weakly strikes a ball that ricochets off a defender and into the goal. Or a chef blends guacamole, tuna fish and lima beans into a recipe that somehow turns out to be delicious. Other actions, however, have surprisingly unpleasant results. With perfect form a basketball player…
1 Samuel 3:1-10, (11-20)
Epiphany 2B
Nothing quite grabs our attention like a voice in the night. After all, it almost always signals trouble. The voice may be that of a child from the next bedroom: “Grandma, I’m sick,” or a teenager’s cell phone: “Dad, I’ve run out of gas.” Sometimes, of course, the voice in the middle of the night…
Genesis 1:1-5
Epiphany 1B
Questions about the “beginning” (1) of the universe, earth and people intrigue at least some of us. So God’s people sometimes turn to passages like Genesis 1:1-5 for answers to those questions. Yet wise people also ask whether Genesis is even interested in those increasingly divisive issues. To honestly answer questions about creation’s beginnings, God’s…
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