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An Advent Welcome
Second Sunday of Advent, Year A, December 4, 2016
Life is too short and the gospel too important to let an annual season like Advent get the short shrift or be transformed into a mere prelude to presents. Fling wide the doors of your heart, home, and church to welcome the stranger–and Jesus. (Photo: Simran, Creative Commons)
Ready or Not: Here Comes Jesus
Revised Common Lectionary Reflection for the First Sunday of Advent, Year A, November 27, 2016
Advent is a time for God’s faithful and generous people to be “ready†and flexible with time, talent, and treasure, even as we wait and watch for God’s incarnation among us. (Photo: Daniel X. O’Neil,
‘Edgy’ Stewardship for Troubling Times
Lectionary Reflection for the 25th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C, November 11, 2016
In this week’s gospel lesson, Jesus instructs us to see our suffering and the changes that ravage our security and life as opportunities to witness and testify to the love and grace of our Lord. We are called to steward an “edgy” faith. (Photo: Georgie Pauwels, Creative Commons)
Freedom? What Freedom?
Reformation Sunday, Year C, October 30, 2016
Forget the vain promises of the world, the polarizing pander of candidates for public office, and the bootstraps mentality of contemporary culture. Real freedom is found only in deep relationship with God and with God’s people. (Photo: Osajus, Creative Commons)
Mercy!
Lectionary Reflection for the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost, Year C, October 23, 2016
Why be stingy with mercy toward others when God desires all to be held in the divine grip of grace? When we let go of the need to be right, to be an insider, and to be better than others, we find that life opens up–real life. (Photo: Jimmie, Creative Commons)
Grappling with the Divine
Lectionary Reflection for the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost, Year C, October 16, 2016
Like Jacob, are we willing to encounter God in our dark nights of the soul and hang on for dear life? Ultimately, are we able to submit to the blessing—named and claimed and never forsaken? (Photo: Michael Swan, Creative Commons)
The Gratitude Attitude
Lectionary Reflection for the Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost, Year C, October 9, 2016
If living a grateful life leads to so many positive results, why isn’t everyone hopping on the gratitude train? The story from this week’s gospel lesson can shed some light on that and lead us to the wholeness Christ offers. (Photo: Julie Jordan Scott, Creative Commons)
Stewards of Faith
Lectionary Reflection for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C, October 2, 2016
This week’s gospel and epistle lesson provide important instruction about being stewards of the very faith we name, claim, and live. It doesn’t get much more basic than that, and this is some very good news. (Photo: Rex Regum, Creative Commons)
Calling All Prayerful Peacemakers
Lectionary Reflection for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year C September 18, 2016 The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in […]
Losing, Finding & Remembering
Lectionary Reflection for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C, September 11
To God, we are not expendable. We are of great worth: Worth searching for, worth finding, and worth celebrating. How can we in turn live into these stories of losing, finding, and remembering that counter a disposable culture and honor an enduring God? (Photo: Jim Donnelly, Creative Commons)
