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Wrath and Mercy, Law and Grace
Third Sunday After Pentecost – 13 June 2010 1 Kings 21:1-21a; Psalm 5:1-8; Galatians 2:15-21; Luke 7:36-8:3 (Revised Common Lectionary) The readings for this Sunday, taken all together, create some...
View ArticleSo Much Unfairness of Things
15th Sunday after Pentecost 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32 Philippians 2:1-13 Matthew 21: 23-32 “You can’t conceive, my child, nor can I or anyone the … appalling … strangeness of...
View ArticleThe Terrible Speed of Mercy
Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time I Thessalonians 4:13-18 Matthew 25:1-13 Six months ago I was doing my part to rail against the folly of doomsday predictions...
View ArticleMore Than a Prophet
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time 2 Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-15 Galatians 2:15-21 Luke 7:36-8:3 I live in a small city that loves to fund raise with lavish galas. The nails...
View ArticleA Very Messy Christmas
Fourth Sunday in Advent Isaiah 7:10-16 Romans 1:1-7 Matthew 1:18-24 Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything That’s how the light gets in. -Leonard...
View ArticleThe Rupture of Impossibility
The Baptism of the Lord Acts 10:34-48 Freeze the frame, theologian James Alison instructs, on the moment in Acts 10 when the Holy Spirit falls on the surprised gentiles and on the even more astounded...
View ArticleThe Greatest of All Shrubs
Seventh Sunday After Pentecost Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 What a time in the life of the American church to read this brief parable of Jesus: “The kingdom of heaven is...
View ArticleThe Quality of Mercy
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Exodus 16:2-15 OR Jonah 3:10-4:11 Philippians 1:21-30 Matthew 20:1-16 There are Sundays when it seems that God simply can’t catch a...
View ArticleThe Unfairness of God’s Justice
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32 Philippians 2:1-13 Matthew 21:23-32 The twentieth century political philosopher, John Rawls, summarily...
View ArticleEnter Into the Lord’s Joy
Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Matthew 25:14-30 Our Gospel reading for today comes from Matt 25. Paired as it is...
View ArticleIt Can’t Come Soon Enough
Fifth Sunday in Lent Jeremiah 31:31-34 Psalm 51:1-12 Hebrews 5:5-10 John 12:20-33 In the undergraduate Christian Ethics course I teach just about every semester, we are talking this week about a notion...
View ArticleWhere Mercy and Justice Meet
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Genesis 2:18-24 OR Job 1:1, 2:1-10 Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12 Mark 10:2-16 The readings this Sunday are thickly planted with pastoral...
View ArticleWaiting in a Violent Time
It has not been a peaceful Advent. The news of the past several weeks has been filled with guns, violence, death, and fear. What might we be required to surrender as we wait for the Lord? Who needs to...
View ArticleNeighboring
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Luke 10:25-37 Our gospel reading for this week contains the story of the Good Samaritan. The story is so well-known that the phrase Good...
View ArticleDon’t Panic (The End is Good News)
Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Pentecost Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Isaiah 65:17-25 OR Malachi 4:1-2a 2 Thessalonians 3: 6-13 Luke 21:5-19 Updated Post At the end of the liturgical year, as...
View ArticleSolomon: Unedited and Uncut
Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost 1 Kings 2.10-12, 3.3-14 And the Academy Award for Selective Biblical Editing goes to…the architects behind today’s assigned reading from 1 Kings! The lectionary for...
View ArticleThe One Who Showed Mercy
Fifth Sunday After Pentecost Amos 7:7-17 Psalm 82 Colossians 4:1-14 Luke 10:25-37 “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been...
View ArticleMercy Shortage
By Joel ShumanFifteenth Sunday after Pentecost Genesis 50:15-21 Psalm 103:1-13 Romans 14:1-12 Matthew 18:21-35 My church and my country could use a little mercy now As they sink into a poisoned...
View ArticleThe Unfairness of God’s Justice
By Brian VolckSixteenth Sunday after Pentecost Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32 Philippians 2:1-13 Matthew 21:23-32 The twentieth century political philosopher, John Rawls,...
View ArticleEnter Into the Lord’s Joy
By Stephen FowlTwenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Matthew 25:14-30 Our Gospel reading for today comes from Matt 25....
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