Sunday’s Coming
Over-packing for the journey (Mark 6:1-13)
Is this passage more than a cautionary tale about the tendency to stuff a suitcase to the gills?
Justice for our children is next (Mark 5:21-43)
Jairus knows the weight of justice delayed as justice denied. But he keeps moving.
Conversations with chaos (Mark 4:35-41)
The wind and water operate at a guttural level within these fishermen disciples.
Mustard you can’t control (Mark 4:26-34)
It’s a beautiful plant. It’s also an invasive weed.
A new family (Mark 3:20-35)
Yes, Jesus is possessed—by a new vision of what it means to live in community and in relationship with God.
A sabbath way of life (Deuteronomy 5:12-15; Mark 2:23-3:6)
My forebears were a little shortsighted with their strict sabbath codes, but they weren’t entirely wrong.
No one is in charge of their own birth (John 3:1-17)
Nicodemus’s problem is the power of evil, and he can’t find his own way out of it.
Unconverted difference (Acts 2:1-21)
The Spirit affirms our differences, speaking in ways that each of us can understand—yet also drawing us together.
Spiritual freedom in concrete form (Acts 1:15-17, 21-26)
In Acts, the gospel takes on organizational structure.
Faith after ascension (Ephesians 1:15-23)
We hope and pray that God will meet us, even if God feels absent to us.
Love that motivates (1 John 5:1-6)
1 John says the love of God comes first. Oh. Right.
Lonely pruning (John 15:1-8; 1 John 4:7-21; Psalm 22:25-31)
Sometimes it seems that the vine grower has prepared the vineyard and gone off to a remote island where things are warmer and nicer.
In defense of the hired hand (John 10:11-18; Acts 4:5-12)
A hired hand is all I’ve ever been, professionally speaking.
Life even more bewildering than death (Luke 24:36b-48)
Jesus' death is almost impossible to accept. Then he comes back.
Showing the world our wounds (Acts 4:32-35; John 20:19-31)
Some people say they don’t identify as Christian because of what they see, or don’t see, in the church.
The disciples and Peter (Mark 16:1-8)
There is a chasm between Peter and Jesus that cannot be glossed over.
Peter’s denial and our judgment (John 18:1-19:42)
Peter doesn’t want to suffer. Who does?
A servant-leader’s strength (John 13:1-17, 31b-35)
The enduring significance of Jesus’ act in John 13 turns on the little preposition to.
The servant who perseveres (Isaiah 50:4-9a)
Isaiah’s suffering servant plays on our own ambivalent ideas about violence, passivity, and retribution.
What does a high priest do? (Hebrews 5:5-10; John 12:20-33)
A worshiper can go a long time without any idea of who Melchizedek is and what it means to be a priest according to his order.