Today’s lessons are getting us in the mood for Advent. We still have Christ the King Sunday to celebrate next week, but today we get a foretaste of the four Sundays after next. Advent is all about preparing the way of Christ, [...]
Luke 20:27-38 Many today, like me, are convinced that our shared lives with God continue in some unfathomable way after death. But many are convinced of just the opposite: this life is all there is. It was the same in Jesus' day. [...]
Luke 19:1-10, tomorrow's Gospel lesson, is yet another story about Jesus befriending people that you and I would consider dangerous to befriend at the very least. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, not a bespectacled agent of the IRS, but a fearsome [...]
In this week's Gospel lesson (Luke 18:9-14) Jesus tricks us. He tells the parable about a smug "churchgoing" man and a despised collaborator with the Roman Empire – a traitor to his own people. The churchgoer prays, "God, I thank you that [...]
Genesis 32:22-31; Luke 18:1-8 “So,” says Jesus, “you have this need. It’s a constant need, a need you can’t deny, regardless of what you believe—or don’t believe. It’s a need to pray. And it’s not just any prayer. It’s this demand, this [...]
Luke 17:11-19 Imagine a group of people who can't stand Jews. Like Jews, they believe in one God and even share some common stories about Moses, but after that they disagree violently, and the disagreements eclipse what they share in common. What [...]
In this week's Gospel reading (Luke 17:5-10), it’s important to know that Jesus has just finished telling all his followers that they need to forgive one another no matter how often they feel mistreated (17:4). His closest followers, the apostles, don't think [...]
Amos 6:1a, 4-7; 1 Timothy 6:6-19; Luke 16:19-31 (online here) We have three lessons this Sunday that issue stern warnings about what might happen to us if we are too comfortable with our possessions. Amos says, “Alas for those who are at [...]
Luke 16:1-13 (online here) Jesus was not above challenging any rule that we think everybody should live by. This lesson is a prime example. A boss lets his employee know that he's about to fire him for mishandling money. Before he can [...]
Exodus 32:7-14 (online here) This is a remarkable reading! God sounds amazingly vindictive, ready to wipe out the very people God had just freed from slavery—all of them, with the sole exception of Moses. Just as amazingly, Moses has the nerve to [...]