Year A - Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Among the best-known stories of the Old Testament is the account of Abraham’s near sacrifice of Isaac. Yet scarcely did I realized what an impact it would make upon me when I first read the story in Hebrew as a seminary student, Light bulbs of revelation began flashing in my head and I could hardly […]
Read MoreJune 21, 2020—Year A: Third Sunday after Pentecost
Have you ever felt a sense of despair? Have you ever thought that everyone, even your closest friends, had seemingly turned against you? Have you ever wondered—when you were trying to do God’s will—why everything went haywire? Have you ever considered that even God may have abandoned you? Have you ever pled that the Lord […]
Read MoreYear A - June 14, 2020—Proper 6 (11) Second Sunday after Pentecost
Whether we like it or not there may come times for any and all humans when we experience points of desperation. They may involve concerns over health, frustrations over unrealized expectations, attacks from unexpected sources, outright threats to what we hold dear, even the potential loss of our very lives. In such times our hopes […]
Read MoreJune 7, 2020—Trinity Sunday; First Sunday after Pentecost
Today is Trinity Sunday, the Sunday after Pentecost. While most Protestant churches focus their Church Calendar celebrations primarily on Advent, Christmas, Easter and perhaps on Lent and Pentecost, there are other important dates in the historic calendar to which Christians should at least give attention. One of those days relates to the Triune God, a […]
Read MoreYear C - Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Before I turn to our third study of Colossians, I want to pause and reflect with you on another of the specially assigned readings for today—Psalm 85. It contains one of the Psalter’s priceless poems concerning the plight of Israel and it should set an important tone for our further thinking. If we human beings […]
Read MoreYear C: The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Before we turn to the incredibly elevated text about Jesus in Colossians, I want to call your attention to Psalm 15 which is one of the shortest texts in the Psalter. Its length, however, is no measure of its importance because this psalm deals with the crucial question of human integrity. Positioned immediately after Psalm […]
Read MoreYear C - The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
In contrast to the basic way we in the western world think, the people of Israel were very eastern. They loved to think in word-pictures and in stories. While we in the west also love stories and become entranced with movies, we usually prefer to draw our conclusions to problems and issues on the basis […]
Read MoreYear C: The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Getting the perspective of God clearly in mind has always been a difficult task for people. Skewing the divine perspective to fit our human wishes and perspectives has always been a problem. In the Old Testament story from 2 Kings 5:1-16 Naaman, the Syrian General, who had leprosy came with a great entourage to be […]
Read MoreYear B: Sixth Sunday in Lent; The Liturgy of the Palms
Though out the world on this very special day Christians in many cultures and languages are joining the psalmist of 118:25 and proclaiming their “Hosanna(s)”—“Save us now!” Indeed, to reenact and remember what took place many years ago when Jesus entered Jerusalem many are waving palm branches. Yes, Psalm 118 has become an important part […]
Read MoreYear B: The Fifth Sunday in Lent
The Fifth Sunday of Lent represents for many the difficult task of facing the painful questions posed by human reality, purpose and destiny. The Psalmist struggled with life’s frailty in Psalm 51, while Jeremiah in Chapter 31 was bewildered with the nature of human disobedience from God’s covenant people and the actual coming of a […]
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