“Surely we are not blind, are we?” (John 9:40). That’s what the Pharisees, the city leaders, ask at the end of the story, after they’ve spent a long chapter questioning a young man whose sight has been healed—the leaders questioning everyone who has anything to do with him, blaming the man’s parents, condemning Jesus, accusing […]
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What do I love when I love my enemy?
What do I love when I love my enemy? This question echoes Saint Augustine’s: “What do I love when I love my God?” To hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, neither question can be answered without the other being asked. Both must be asked together and answered together. What do I love when I love […]
We are the ones
Micah chapter six, verse 1: “Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.” That’s how it feels—today, this month, this weekend as the president told us his plan to build more walls at Mexico’s border, as he ramped up efforts to deport undocumented residents, as he ordered discrimination against […]
Follow me
“Jesus left Nazareth,” it says, “and made his home in Capernaum by the sea” (Matthew 4:13). Jesus makes a home. He settles into a community for a while. Probably making and selling some furniture, since he’s a carpenter after all. Maybe he builds a few barns, boats, a house or two. Soon the neighbors start […]
Who needs an epiphany?
[This sermon was prepared for January 8, 2017, but icy streets kept us from worshiping that day. It was given on January 15.] When Neftali gave the sermon about two months ago he was careful to make sure that the words of the Bible passage could be understood by the children in the mid-years of […]
Mary, our theologian
“Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). Her heart. We glimpse Mary’s heart in our Bible passage today. A glimmer of her inner life, of what she thinks about, of what will flash through her thoughts over the years, the thirty-three years, as her child grows from infant in […]
Undone
Advent 2 John appears near Jerusalem, with bugs in his teeth from his locust meals, with the wild in his eyes, howling at the world to repent. A voice crying out from the wilderness, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 3:2). Something happened to John the Baptist, drawing him into the […]
Advent at night
Advent 1 Sometimes, in the morning, when I’m waking up, I find myself in a dream world where everything is as it should be, a world without pain and sorrow, a world full of joy and peace: swords turned into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks. And even though I know I’m waking up, I want […]
Shepherds Who Shepherd
Today is “Reign of Christ” Sunday, a fact that feels both timely and unsettling. This Sunday comes around every year, one moment in the cycle of time Christians inhabit, before we circle back into Advent once again. But this year, today, the world looks different. This is neither the first nor the last time preachers […]
Nation against nations
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. Dreadful portents. Signs from heaven. This part of the Bible, this passage from the Gospel of Luke, is called “the little apocalypse.” The word apocalypse means unveiling, uncovering, revelation, the truth exposed. The day after the election, in the neighborhood up the hill from our house, […]
Gratitude has made you well
“As Jesus entered a village, ten lepers approached him, keeping their distance” (Luke 17:12). These ten people aren’t even called people. They aren’t even acknowledged as human beings. They are called lepers. They are known as lepers. Their identity is leper. They are sick with a disease that made them outcasts. But, with Jesus, the […]
Tears becoming words
Last week during Sunday School, one of the kids asked a question that I’ve been thinking about all week, especially during a week like this one. We asked our class of 6 and 7 year olds what they wanted to learn about this year, what questions should we wrestle with—curiosities about God, about church, and […]
Break the chains
Jeremiah, chapter 32, verse 2: “At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard.” The people are in captivity. Jeremiah is under arrest. There is no hope. On the horizon, as far as the eye can see into the […]
Life-giving debt
Mary Oliver’s poem, entitled Moments, makes me think of this week’s gospel text. Let me read it for us, and we’ll see what we can see: There are moments that cry out to be fulfilled.Like, telling someone you love them.Or giving your money away, all of it.Your heart is beating, isn’t it?You’re not in chains, […]
The burden of care
When I looked over the scriptures for this week in preparation to preach, I found that the Exodus passage and the Luke passage presented an astonishing juxtaposition. The Exodus scene has God downright disgusted by the Israelites he led into the wilderness. The Israelites, perhaps out of impatience and boredom, created a golden calf to […]
Let mutual love continue
Opening prayer: “Eternal Spirit, Draw us together in this hour and help us to expand the circle of those whom we reach in love.” The author of the book of Hebrews is unknown, so much so that some scholars do not even have anybody to suggest. However, it is nonetheless carefully and deeply argued. Consider […]
Do not be afraid, little flock
12th Sunday after Pentecost This week’s texts are forward looking in different, if overlapping ways, and so I attempted to a certain extent to consider them together. In Genesis, Abram laments that he and Sarai remain childless together; he is unhappy with his present situation, and names his discontent before God. God promises a different […]
Beauty endangered
Psalm 82 July 10, 2016 Two verses from our Psalm have been on my mind this week. First, verse 7: “You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, you shall die like mortals, and fall like any prince” (Ps 82:7). And second, verse 8: “Rise up, O God, judge the earth; […]
Redeeming Betrayal
Have you ever wondered why the president of the Ku Klux Klan is called an Exalted Cyclops? Or how a white supremecist could be redeemed? Or how anything good could come from betrayal? Or how any of this has to do with Naaman? Me too. A couple weeks ago, a local civil rights leader in […]
Prayer to the God of our life.
Why are you bent over, O my soul? Why are you moaning within me? Put your hope in God, for I am still going to offer praise, my help and my God…By day the Lord directs his love, at night her song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life. (Psalm 42:5, 8) […]
Pulse: para las mariposas
A verse from our Psalm: “You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure.” ~ ‘‘Mommy I love you” Eddie Justice sent his first text to his mom at 2:06am. ‘‘In club they shooting.’’ ‘‘U ok.’’ ‘‘Trapp in bathroom’’ “Pulse. Downtown. Call police.’’ ‘‘I’m calling them […]
The Compassion of Christ
1 Kings 17:17-24Psalm 146Galatians 1:11-24Luke 7:11-17 I’m guessing Jesus could hear the funeral procession long before he saw it.Nothing compares to the primal soundof a mother who’s on her way to bury her child—something no parent should ever have to do.And this, her only child.Not only that—her only family,having already buried her husband.She’s a widow.And […]
Stand in Grace
Trinity Sunday – May 29, 2016 I’m preaching on the Romans text today, which feels a little weird, given the joyous embodiment of the gospel in the sermon the children preached together last week. Now here I am, setting out to talk about a passage on justification. Such a heavy word. Still, I hope that […]
The Spirit that bends
Pentecost Sunday I. It is Pentecost Sunday, and I find myself up here in front of you, expected to say a word. To utter sentences that might provide comfort, clarity, insight…that speak truth derived from the passages read just few minutes ago. I find myself asking, why did I not look at the schedule earlier […]