jesus – Page 3 – Mother A Writes

We Are All Here

Acts 16:16-34 Content Warning: This sermon addresses suicide, mental illness, and death. The photo associated with this post is a photo I took at the excavated prison cell in Philippi where Paul was imprisoned as depicted in Acts. When I saw the readings assigned for today, I was deeply moved. This reading from Acts isContinue reading “We Are All Here”

The Promise of Home

Revelation 21:1-6 See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the firstContinue reading “The Promise of Home”

Wearing Ministry

Hands that show signs of age feeding fabric through a sewing machine, taken from the perspective of someone looking over the shoulder of the textile worker

Acts 9:36-43 When I was newly ordained, a woman in my first parish died and I was to preside at her funeral. Instead of flowers, her children told me they would be bringing some things she had made to adorn the altar. She was a quilter, and an embroiderer, with an artist’s eye. The dayContinue reading “Wearing Ministry”

Changing Minds

A vibrantly colored painting of a man in the middle of falling from the back of a horse, looking up at a bright yellow figure of Jesus with arms outstretched as if on the cross

Acts 9:1-6, (7-20) I am convinced that one of the hardest things to do in this world is change your mind. Something that might be even harder is admitting aloud that your belief or opinion has changed from what you once fervently professed. We are not rewarded for it, either socially or by our ownContinue reading “Changing Minds”

Scars & Tattoos

John 20:19-31 After the events of Holy Week, and the impossible news of Easter, I can’t blame the disciples for hiding away together. As a pastor, I understand the instinct. The events of Jesus’s final days before his death, the sham trial and gruesome execution, the long day of waiting and the baffling witness ofContinue reading “Scars & Tattoos”

Being Made New

Luke 24:1-12 Why do you look for the living among the dead? The messengers of God may be dazzling, but they don’t seem to have much tact. The women come to the tomb carrying spices, after weeping their way through the Sabbath, faces tear stained and eyes puffy, with the intention of seeing their friendContinue reading “Being Made New”

The Devil is a Liar

John 18:1-19:42 Yesterday, we heard that the devil had put it in the heart of Judas to betray Jesus, and today we bear witness to the outcome of that betrayal. “The Devil made me do it,” a phrase popularized by a comedian in the 70s, has long been a tongue-in-cheek way of excusing minor infractions,Continue reading “The Devil is a Liar”

In Remembrance of Me

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 & John 13:1-17, 31b-35 Do this in remembrance of me. In Paul’s letter to the Christians in Corinth, we have the earliest mention of the Eucharist, Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper. Paul was writing almost a generation before the Gospel of John was written, and decades before Mark or Luke or MatthewContinue reading “In Remembrance of Me”

Will We Join the Party?

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 A teacher once told me that until you can explain something to a child, you don’t really understand it. CS Lewis, another great teacher, believed most ardently that good children’s stories were only good if they could mean just as much to the adults reading them as the child being read to.Continue reading “Will We Join the Party?”

Temptation at Lunchtime

Luke 4:1-13 In C. S. Lewis’s book The Screwtape Letters, Lewis imagines what the correspondence between two demons might look like. They discuss humanity with contempt, all the while obsessing over the actions, choices, and beliefs of the individual humans they are charged with leading away from God, or as they call him, the Enemy.Continue reading “Temptation at Lunchtime”