Inscrutable Love
The Book of Job is dramatic fiction, scholars tell us, which is a relief if you know anything about this story. Job is the most righteous man on the planet, prompting Satan to choose him for his double blind study to see if he can prove that people only obey God when they get something […]
On the Road
Dramatic Gospel Reading Luke 24:13-35 Rev. Michele Ward, Shirley Parry, Bonnie & Elden Schneider Michele: The Gospel reading comes from the book of Luke. Listen now for the Word of God. Michele: Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with […]
The Grace, and Limits, of Doubt
I know it’s a mistake to read every text through the lens of COVID-19 but this one made that approach especially difficult. Last week Jesus was the perfect poster child for the public health campaign. “Do not hold onto me,” he told Mary Magdalene, who was not doing a very good job keeping her social […]
Loss and Life On Easter
Easter feels very different this year. No smell of lillies wafting through the sanctuary, no robed worship leaders. The only brass-tinged choirs we’ll hear are recordings from the past and I’m preaching in the living room to myself. That’s not weird. It’s not all bad, of course. We’ve seen again what generations of Jesus followers […]
‘Lord, If You Had Been Here!’ And Other Prayers of Protest
Martha and Mary were livid. There’s really no other way to say it. They were ticked off with Jesus – that’s the way I read this text. I’d be upset, too, after seeing Jesus’ choices. He finds out that Lazarus is deathly sick and he waits two more days before visiting! Even the narrator sounds […]
The Possibility of Grace in Painful Times
Somebody tell Jesus you don’t go spitting into dirt and rubbing it into people’s eyes. You wash your hands while singing the Happy Birthday song through twice to get the full 20 seconds recommended by the CDC, put on a mask and gloves before you ever get close to anyone who needs healing. But Coronavirus […]
Down in the Ditch in a Time of Social Distancing
The priest and the Levite didn’t stop to help the poor man but I bet they had a good reason. Maybe they were frightened. The robbers may have still been on the loose ready to attack and what good would another victim be to a man lying in a ditch? “I would like to […]
Just Be Ordinary
Climb Back into the Womb
Dreams of the Patriarch(y)
The text this morning picks up right where the magi left off–they are on their way back to their homeland, by way of another road, having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod. A few weeks ago, we celebrated the birth of Jesus and the reality that Love could not wait to […]