Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7; Psalm 66:1-11; 2 Timothy 2:8-15; Luke 17:11-19 There’s a great scene in the 1965 Civil War movie Shenandoah. I posted it on our Facebook page this week; maybe you saw it. Jimmy Stewart plays a widowed farmer. Trying to heed his wife’s dying wish that their seven children be raised as good […]

Lamentations 1:1-6; Psalm 137; 2 Timothy 1:1-14; Luke 17:5-10 Before I launch into a look at this morning’s gospel, a few words are in order about Psalm 137. Needless to say, the last verse is a little shocking—a bit more graphic than we would prefer on a Sunday morning! This psalm is a lament over […]

Jeremiah 8:18-9:1; Psalm 79:1-9; 1 Timothy 2:1-7; Luke 16:1-13 Yesterday Don and I went to see the “Downton Abbey” movie. We have been anticipating this movie for some time, and we were not disappointed. It followed very well in the steps of the TV series. For Anglophiles like us, it was pure candy. The movie […]

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28; Psalm 14; 1 Timothy 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-10 What is the source of the deepest joy in your life? Think about that for a moment: What event, what person, what idea, sparked or now sparks the greatest feelings of joy for you? I’ll wait a moment for you to think about it and […]

Jeremiah 18:1-11; Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17; Philemon 1-21; Luke 14:25-33 Well, here we go again.  In this morning’s gospel, Jesus is up to his usual devices, saying things that surprise and puzzle us. Speaking to the crowd following him on the road to Jerusalem, Jesus makes bold demands: “Whoever comes to me and does not hate […]

Jeremiah 2:4-13 Psalm 81:1, 10-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14 Labor Day weekend always makes me nostalgic. As I have told you before, I come from a big Texas family, and when I was growing up every year we would have a family reunion on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. This gathering was made up of […]

Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1-6; Luke 13:10-17 “Sometime in 1619, a Portuguese slave ship [the São João Bautista] traveled across the Atlantic Ocean with a hull filled with human cargo: captive Africans from Angola, in southwestern Africa. The men, women and children, most likely from the kingdoms of Ndongo and Kongo, endured the horrific journey, bound […]

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16; Psalm 50:1-8, 23-24; Luke 12:32-40 Perhaps you’ve heard of Marie Kondo, the Japanese organizing consultant and writer. In books like The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and her Netflix series Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, she espouses the idea that we should always be cleaning and organizing, keeping only those things that […]

Colossians 3:1-11; Psalm 107:1-9, 43; Luke 12:13-21 As you know, we are in the midst of a community book read. The premise of David Brook’s The Second Mountain is that the common pattern in life is to become adult and begin climbing the mountain that we are expected to scale. Brooks says, “On the first […]

Colossians 2:6-15; Psalm 85; Luke 11:1-13 I wonder if you’ve noticed, that recently there has been a bit of a backlash against prayer. Well maybe not just against prayer, but certainly against “thoughts and prayers.” That’s the phrase that often gets used and a publicly notable event—politicians and celebrities offer their thoughts and prayers. It’s […]