In the Lectionary

At Christmas even the most Protestant among us can be drawn to the contemplation of Mary. It seems right to recall her humble courage, her receiving and carrying and giving birth, and her joy as she sang of the saving work of God.

Who am I? Who are you? Not the Messiah.

In my Swedish childhood, the signature image of Advent was Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

What is the need for which I need Jesus to come?

While Ezekiel’s shepherd is often on the move, any sheepherder will tell you that this is the exception rather than the rule.

I’ve never been totally honest about baptismal vows. I bet Joshua would have been.

Deborah, a wise woman who sat.

Jesus' simple summary of the law is actually complex.

I was in Cuba this summer on a mission trip, when our host pastor, Héctor Méndez, approached me, his face grave and drawn. “They have attacked a Presbyterian hospital and school in Pakistan,” he said, “and people have been killed.”

If you are ever invited to a gala event where a constitutional monarch is present, you will be told to wear a dark suit or a formal dress—no pants suits for women, no leisure suits for men. Apparently the poor guy in the parable of the wedding banquet didn’t read the small print on his invitation.

We cannot return to a pre-calf existence when the fullness of God could be seen more clearly.

Jesus offers a stick in his listeners' eye.

Power always protects itself.

Matthew's story is terrible news. It is also the truth that will make us free.

When I was a kid growing up in the Willamette Valley, local teenagers and migrant laborers would go out together into the strawberry fields to help with the harvest. This parable, with its setting in the vineyard, describes the emotions of us workers—we wanted a fair wage for a fair day’s work.

Jesus knew forgiveness would always need special emphasis.

How do the blessed feel when they think of the damned?

The Hebrew midwives were poised to receive the future that God had promised.

Fear rules the emotions of Joseph’s brothers and strikes the hearts of Jesus’ disciples.