Luke 2:1-14(15-20) I have an image in my head, of an empty nativity scene. A vacant stable, closed in on three sides by knotted wood and straw and hints of animals nearby. The figures that belong there, the blue robed Mary and the staff-leaning Joseph and the tiny swaddled infant Jesus nestled snugly in theContinue reading “The Empty Stable”
Tag Archives: coronatide
Good Company
Mark 1:1-8 The past few weeks you’ve heard sermons about waiting, and watching, about keeping alert and about being patient through these unprecedented times. The news has been a wall of warnings and restrictions peppered with bright spots of possible vaccines and promises of an end in sight. The radio and television and even theContinue reading “Good Company”
What It Is We Are Waiting For
Matthew 25:31-46 The season of Advent, traditionally defined as a season of penitence, preparation, and anticipatory hope, has in recent history been overcome by ever-earlier transitions into festivity. If the church were to follow the trends of the commercial realm, this season of waiting would have begun just prior to Halloween and ended around theContinue reading “What It Is We Are Waiting For”
Fulfilled in Our Hearing
Luke 4:14-21 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee. Jesus returns to Galilee from the wilderness, where he was driven by the same spirit after his baptism in the Jordan River. “Filled with the power of the Spirit.” Luke the evangelist gives us a clue with this phrase, a hintContinue reading “Fulfilled in Our Hearing”
Lord, Have Mercy
Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28 This morning, as we continue to live and move in a restrictive and unfamiliar reality, we are privy to a teaching of Jesus on the issue of ritual purity and virtue. Jesus proclaims that the words and deeds we put out into the world are far more prone to defile usContinue reading “Lord, Have Mercy”
What Now?
Romans 12:9-21 Often, when a preacher sits down to prepare a sermon, there are infinite questions to answer- both those posed by the text for the week and those posed by the week’s headlines. Questions about God and faith, and the way of things in the world. The preacher reads the passages, reads the week’sContinue reading “What Now?”
Apologies & True Forgiveness
Matthew 18:21-35 When I was younger, and my little sister and I would get into squabbles over toys or who would play what role in the world we were imagining together, our parents frequently had to remind us to apologize to one another. We all at some point in our development are taught to sayContinue reading “Apologies & True Forgiveness”
In My Grandmother’s Kitchen
Philippians 3:4b-14 In my grandmother’s kitchen, on the doorframe that leads into her pantry filled with our favorite cereals and canned goods older than my father, there are pencil marks. Some of them are faint, and some have been smudged by grubby little hands or faded by teenagers leaning against the wall. The marks startContinue reading “In My Grandmother’s Kitchen”
Mother A Writes 