Live by mercy Luke 18:9-14 by Isaac S. Villegas October 27, 2013 The Pharisee stands by himself, it says, and prays; he offers words of gratitude, of thanksgiving. He’s grateful for his luck, his good fortune that he has not become a thief or villain, an adulterer or tax collector — he’s grateful that he […]
She Persists
She Persists Luke 18:1-8 by Meghan Florian October 20, 2013 In today’s gospel passage from Luke, Jesus tells the disciples a parable about their need to pray always, and not lose heart. The story take places in a certain nameless city, and features two main characters. First, there is a judge who has no fear […]
Homemaking
Homemaking as resistance Jeremiah 29:1-7 by Isaac S. Villegas October 13, 2013 “Build houses… Plant gardens…” Jeremiah says (Jer 29:5). James picks through a crumbling building on an abandoned lot on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, carefully selecting rubble to make a border for the deserted plot of earth he had dug into an […]
Lamentation and Communion
Lamentation & Communion Lamentations 1:1-6, 3:19-26 by Nathan Rauh-Bieri October 6, 2013 Last Sunday, Isaac preached about what Jeremiah does in the face of the impending destruction of Jerusalem: he buys a field at Anathoth. This mundane of act of sober hope is also an invitation for life to happen in the midst of and […]
the field at Anathoth
The field at Anathoth Jeremiah 32 by Isaac S. Villegas Sept 29, 2013 I haven’t spent much time at the Anathoth Community Garden. I haven’t pulled weeds in those beds or picked tomatoes from the vines, as I know some of you have done. I’ve only been out there for celebrations — for harvest festivals […]
Righteous but shrewd; poor but extravagant
Righteous but Shrewd; Poor but Extravagant Luke 16:1-15 by Ben D. Sept 22, 2013 As Catherine reminded us last week, Luke’s gospel has much to say about loss—about the experience of losing things.[1] Jesus says: Those who want to save their life will lose it; those who lose their life for my sake will save […]
Kingdom for the lost
Kingdom for the Lost Luke 15:1-10 by Catherine Thiel Lee September 15, 2013 Tonight we are going to look at two stories, parables that Jesus told. They are simple stories. Nice stories. Things get lost, but they are found, and then there are parties. The parables aren’t long, so I’m going to read them […]
Single, like Jesus
Single, like Jesus Luke 14:25-33 by Isaac S. Villegas Sept 8, 2013 I grew up listening to Focus on the Family, five days a week, every morning on Family Life Radio. For that half hour, Dr. Dobson would explain the world to me; he’d tell me how to understand my life and our culture. On […]
Am I yours, are you mine?
Am I yours and are you mine? Luke 14:1, 7-14 by Melissa Florer-Bixler Sept 1, 2013 Ascension Parish is nestled into the side of Portland, Oregon’s Mount Tabor so it was a steep climb to the wooden front door. Making my there was especially difficult when negotiating the terrain with Joni, who finds walking on […]
Restoring bent people
Restoring Bent People Luke 13:10-17 by Joanna Shenk August 25, 2013 I’ve been trying to visualize how bent over this woman was… I guess that’s not really the point, but it tugs at my imagination. And I wonder why it is that I immediately imagine an older woman with many wrinkles and tattered clothes? We […]
Greed
Greed Luke 12:13-21 by Isaac S. Villegas August 4, 2013 Jesus tells a story about a wealthy landowner with a bumper crop, and we get to listen in as he figures out what to do with the harvest. Like all the rest of Jesus’ parables, there are subtleties here that nudge us in all sorts […]
The Amos Assault: still on target?
THE AMOS ASSAULT: STILL ON TARGET? Thomas Lehman/21 July 2013 As Christians we rightly favor the New Testament as a basis for our beliefs. It is easy to see the Old Testament as short on inspiration and long on problems of interpretation. However, for me this makes the OT particularly attractive when a passage […]
Rise up, O God, judge the earth
Rise up, O God, judge the earth Psalm 82 by Isaac S. Villegas July 14, 2013 “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?” That’s what God says to us in Psalm 82. That’s what God says to the world, to our so-called justice systems. At the end of the Psalm, […]
The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house
The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house 2 Kings 5:1-14 by Isaac S. Villegas July 7, 2013 There’s a girl, a young woman, an Israelite who is ripped away from her people as part of the spoils of war. Her king and the king of Aram have been at war for years, and […]
Fire From Heaven
Fire From Heaven Luke 9:51-56 by David Swanson July 1, 2013 Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them? Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them? What a question! These men, James and John, were the disciples of […]
Demons
Demons Luke 8:26-39 by Isaac S. Villegas June 23, 2013 The possessed man is set free, healed, clothed and in his right mind, and the people are afraid. “Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them,” the text says, “for they were seized with great fear.” They […]
The Greater Debt
The Greater Debt Luke 7:36-8:3 by Meghan Florian June 16, 2013 In our gospel passage today Simon, a Pharisee, has invited Jesus to his home to eat, and a young woman — “a sinner,” we’re told — has learned Jesus’ whereabouts and comes to see him. Her presence is out of the ordinary. She sneaks […]
Becoming guests
Guests, missions, and hospitality 1 Kings 17:8-26, Psalm 146 by Isaac S. Villegas June 9, 2013 In 1452, Pope Nicholas V issued his infamous decree called Dum diversas, Latin for “until different.” This papal decree is infamous because it marks the beginning of European expeditions into West Africa to capture and sell human beings, the […]
The Delight of Wisdom
The Delight of Wisdom Proverbs 8 by Catherine Thiel Lee May 26, 2013 Proverbs, let’s just put it out there, is a funny bit of the Bible. I remember liking it when I was younger. It seemed straightforward, if occasionally a little dated or esoteric. My suburban teenage self might not have really been able […]
Pentecost, language, and difference
Pentecost, language, and difference Acts 2:1-21 by Isaac S. Villegas May 19, 2013 In 1492, in Salamanca, Spain, Antonio de Nebrija presented to Queen Isabella his latest book. Nebrija wrote the first textbook on the grammar of the Spanish language — a grammar of the vernacular, the ordinary language of the people, the everyday language […]
Easter without end
Easter without end John 17:20-26 by Isaac S. Villegas May 12, 2013 John chapter 17 is a long prayer — Jesus’s prayer for his friends, for his loved ones. John 17 is his long prayer on the night he is handed over to his executioners. Jesus knows what Judas is about to do. Jesus knows […]
Mixing and sharing
Mixing and Sharing by Kathy Roberts May 5, 2013 I take the title of my sermon from a phrase that anthropologist Glenn Bowman uses to describe what goes on at sacred sites in Macedonia. It is his Macedonian research that I draw on here. In John 14: 27, Jesus says to his disciples: “Peace I […]
Bluebirds, nests, and hope, part 4
Bluebirds, nests, and hope, part 4 Psalm 23, Revelation 7:9-17, John 10:22-30 by Isaac S. Villegas April 21, 2013 In 2008 I preached three sermons on the bluebirds who were living, and dying, in my front yard, in the bird house that my neighbor gave me. I guess we can call that my only sermon […]
The wounded judge who saves
The Wounded Judge Who Saves Acts 9:1-6 by Scott Schomburg April 14, 2013 In the Acts of the Apostles we enter a world ruled by the crucified Jesus. The resurrected one returns to the scene exalted in the preached word. Peter and John carry this witness into the city of Jerusalem, directed toward rulers, elders, […]