_JPG.jpg)
Michael and All Angels - A Blessing for the Battle
A sermon on Revelation 12:7-12 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here] During my first year in seminary my husband, Tyler, joined an intramural flag football team at the seminary with a rather unusual name: they called themselves the Seraphim. Now, at the time, my only association with that name was the phrase “cherubin and seraphim,” which is I my response to the name was to say: “Oh. Cute!” The guys on the football team hastened to correct me. You see, they hadn
Surprising Grace
A sermon on Luke 16:1-13 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here] Raise your hand if the gospel we read today is your favorite parable! Not so much, right? It’s just such a weird story with an even weirder ending: An unsympathetic character gets caught out, then steals from his employer in order to make a soft landing for himself… and gets praised for his shrewdness by the master he ripped off. WHAT? Maybe I should ask for a show of hands if you wonder why this par
Welcome, Not Worthiness
A sermon on Luke 15:1-10 [an audio recording of this sermon can be accessed here] I want to tell you a story about a God moment I had this week.It happened on Tuesday morning. I had stopped into one of my favorite coffee shops to get a latte before heading off to my pastor’s Bible study on this week’s readings. I had a few minutes before I had to get on the road, so I had brought in a commentary on Luke to read up on today’s gospel text. My normal routine is to get my coffee,
The Cost-Benefit of Discipleship
A sermon on Luke 14: 25-33 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here] In last week’s gospel, Jesus played the part of the offensive guest in his enacted parable – publicly rebuking his host and shaming his fellow guests. This week, it appears that the readings have been selected to up the ante by just offending us directly! Or at least that’s my instinctive reaction. First, we get a reading from the law in Deuteronomy that simplistically contrasts life & prosperity a
Which Part Will We Play? - A reorienting parable
A sermon on Luke 14: 1,7-14 [for an audio recording of this sermon, click here] An interesting challenge arose in my Tuesday morning Bible study on the lectionary texts this week. One of the other pastors commented that, despite what Luke says, this reading doesn’t really give us a parable. I understand what he was talking about. We are used to parables told as fictional stories ("There was a man...") or at least as similes ("the kingdom of heaven is like…”) But here, Jesus i
