Freedom and Obedience
Galatians 5:1, 13-26 In Bound to be Free: Evangelical Catholic Engagements in Ecclesiology, Ethics, and Ecumenism Reinhard Hütter notes that speech about freedom often confuses different types of...
View ArticleAll the Saints
Luke 20:27-40 Last week, Tobias Winright reminded us that October 30th was the feast of St. Marcellus who was martyred because of his refusal to participate in the idolatry of the Roman Empire. From...
View ArticleA Small Part in a Great Story
Isaiah 7:10-26; Matthew 1:18-25 By Matthew 1:18, Matthew has already named Jesus as the Messiah several times. Indeed, Matthew’s genealogy is constructed to show that the son of Joseph and Mary is...
View ArticleInternalizing what Externals Mean
1 Samuel 16:1-13 We live in a culture obsessed with appearance. Tanning beds promise us sun-kissed bodies year round. Moleskine notebooks remind others of how creative we are and our designer eye...
View ArticlePreparing for Departure
This week’s lectionary reading leads us into the farewell discourse (John 13.31-17.26) as Jesus prepares the disciples for his departure. It can seem a little disorienting to follow up a month’s worth...
View ArticleJacob, Despite Jacob
In Preaching and Reading the Lectionary: A Three-Dimensional Approach to the Liturgical Year, O. Wesley Allen Jr. advocates for a what he calls a cumulative preaching strategy that focuses more on the...
View ArticleBread from Heaven
14th Sunday after Pentecost Exodus 16.2-15, Psalm 145.1-8, Philippians 1.21-30, Matthew 20.1-16 I’m the oldest of four lively children. As an adult I’m very aware of the strain that my siblings and I...
View ArticleFrom Where Does Our Help Come?
1st Sunday of Advent Isaiah 64:1-9 Psalm 80:1-7, 117-19 1 Cor. 1:3-9 Mark 13:24-37 On the first Sunday of Advent, we enter into a new year with joyful expectation of the return of our Lord Jesus...
View ArticleWade in the Water
6th week of Epiphany Feb. 12, 2012 2 Kings 5:1-14 Psalm 30 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Mark 1:40-45 Eighteen years ago, the Mississippi Annual Conference planted the next “mega church” in a small but...
View ArticleTaste and See
Third Sunday of Easter Acts 3:12-19 Psalm 4 1 John 3:1-7 Luke 24:36b-48 The cover story for the April 16, 2012 issue of Time Magazine was entitled “Rethinking Heaven.” In the article, the author...
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