Luke 6:17-26 Last week I had a case of vertigo that hit me like a ton of bricks. So I spent the week mostly in bed, unable to focus my eyes very well. The vertigo has gradually improved but I have still been left with little to do but rest my eyes and … think. And I have been thinking about the text for the week. About blessing and woe. About the economy of Jesus, about fullness and emptiness. About giving and receiving. There is no question in my mind that I am among the blessed – by almost any definition of the word. But when I think of the specific biblical meaning, and the unique angle Jesus presents in his sermon on the plain, this is the meaning of blessed that matters the most to me. To talk about this, I want to go back to my childhood. […]

Luke 5:1-11 Every living human being somehow needs to find meaning in their lives, it’s what holds us together. Why get up in the morning if there is no meaning in it? Perhaps you have experienced days of depression, when meaning was absent, and any sense of purpose was lost. Perhaps you know how that feels. Meaning is essential to our well-being. For the fishermen, Simon Peter, James and John, it is possible that the primary meaning in their lives was providing a living for themselves and their families. Maybe they loved their work. Hopefully they took pride in it – it was hard. Sometimes you worked all night and came up empty. They weren’t wealthy men. As Jews in an occupied land, they were enduring the hardships of the Roman rule, which taxed them heavily and took much of the product of their labors to be sent elsewhere. There […]

            Luke 4:21-30 As I have thought about this story, my mind kept returning to the prayer service at the National Cathedral, the day after inauguration day. It is a tradition that happens every four years, but this year it got an unusual amount of attention. When it first came to my notice, I listened to Bishop Budde’s whole sermon, where she spoke of unity, and the things that are necessary if we hope to work toward unity. It was a good sermon, but what struck me most strongly was her voice. The bishop’s voice was gentle, soft, full of grace. I was amazed at the graciousness of her voice. I also liked what she said. She suggested that there are three foundations for unity: honoring the inherent dignity of every human being, honesty, and humility. And then she closed with an appeal for mercy, […]

Luke 4:14-21 In these days, a news item can get around at lightning speed, if people think it’s worth talking about. But even in the days of Jesus, news was spread at a pretty good pace by word of mouth. Today we sit at our computers or with our thumbs on our phone screens, but back then people got out into the marketplace and they talked. They looked for news of what was happening in the world that might impact their lives, and so word of Jesus spread all throughout Galilee. Yet, from Luke’s account, we haven’t much of an idea what they might have been saying about Jesus. We only know that he has been baptized, and that he spent 40 days in the wilderness as a time of preparation. It is possible that this was all anyone knew as they talked about him through the surrounding Galilean countryside. […]

John 2:1-11 When I was a child, my elementary school held a pumpkin decorating competition every Halloween, and I wanted to win so much. Competition was stiff, though. Every year you would see parents carrying in elaborate creations that took your breath away – and you knew who made that creation. It wasn’t the kid. Still, I kept trying. One year I decided I would decorate my pumpkin like a spider. So I began working on it, black spray paint, wire hangers for legs. My mother watched and offered some suggestions, but I did all the hands-on work. And I won. Well, I was elated. I could not stop talking about it for the rest of the day, about how I did this, all by myself, and I won. It was all “I, I, I.” And then my father took me aside. He reminded me that my mother had been […]

Isaiah 43:1-7 Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 This Sunday we remember our baptism, which is something we share with Jesus. He was baptized by John in the Jordan River. John didn’t actually want to baptize Jesus, because he knew Jesus did not need the repentance he offered. John was right; Jesus was a model of humanity in every way. He was our exemplar for how to live into the image of God. But I imagine this was the reason he wanted to be baptized, to show us the way in this as in everything. He submitted to John in the river, along with all the others, then he came to shore and began to pray. At that moment the heavens opened, and a voice said, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” “With you I am well pleased.” Not all translations put it the same way. Some […]

Isaiah 60:1-6 Ephesians 3:1-12 If I start the sentence, “How do you know…” and I invite you to finish it, what comes to mind? How do you know if someone loves you? How do you know if this is the one you should marry? How do you know if this is the right job for you? How do you know when it is time to make a change? How do you know? These are the kinds of questions that fill our imaginations. I don’t often wonder “how do you know if the milk has gone bad?” Because, you know. Things like that are simple and empirical. The “how do you know” questions that hold your attention are different. We know how to solve an arithmetic problem by learning the steps and practicing. We know if we have the right answer because there is a right answer and it’s the same […]

Matthew 2: 1-12 I want to tell you a Christmas story. It’s about a family – a mother, a father, their three little boys, and a fourth child on the way. Mother was in the final weeks of her pregnancy. On Christmas Eve the family all went to church, and on the way home the mother said to the father, “Oof. This baby is coming tonight.” So they continued on their way home. They all went in the house, the boys just vibrating with excitement. They weren’t paying any attention to what mother and father were talking about – it was Christmas! They had more important things on their minds. Suddenly, father announced to everyone, “There are reports that Santa has been seen in the area,” as he points up toward the sky. And the boys’ eyes grew big. They knew what to do. They all scampered upstairs, put on […]

John 1:1-14 I want to tell you a true story about a woman named Sara. Sara was an adventurer. She traveled all over the world as a journalist, covering the most newsworthy events of the day. She was hungry for experience and she seized everything that was offered – worked with all kinds of people in all kinds of places. Unafraid of a challenge. Sara was always looking for something. Eventually, after many years, she slowed down, settled down. She bought a house, got a dog. And she started taking walks around her neighborhood. This was the extent of her travels now. One morning on her walk, she came by a church. It was a Sunday. She could hear the sounds of worship from inside the building. Without really thinking about it, Sara went inside. She found the congregation standing in the center of the room in a circle. She […]

Romans 13: 8-11 Luke 2: 1-14       On this final Sunday of Advent, we arrive at the place we have been traveling toward all month – Bethlehem. A few days before Mary and Joseph arrive, we stop here now in Bethlehem, to wonder at all that happened here in a place so humble and lowly. The word Bethlehem means “house of bread,” because it was a place where grain was grown, a very basic staple that humans depend on. You might recall that the Old Testament story of Ruth takes place in Bethlehem, during the barley harvest. Ruth, the foreign woman who arrived in Bethlehem with her mother-in-law Naomi, goes out to glean in the barley fields, so that she and Naomi may eat. The law provided that everyone – the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, they were guaranteed the right to glean the fields so they might eat. They would […]