Living the Lectionary

Revelation 7:9-17 These words were written to encourage and comfort people who were suffering terribly for the sake of the faith. Let’s p...

It’s early in the morning on Reformation Sunday. I’m sipping a tall bold at my Starbucks. On the way over here NPR was featuring a professor...

John 8:31-36 Maybe if I knew what my “we are descendants of Abraham” was I would know what keeps me from being free. But the sad truth is...

Romans 3:19-28 God is the one who is just and the one who justifies; period, end of sentence. So why do we work so hard for what is none ...

Psalm 46 To “be still” in the presence of shaking earth, falling mountains and roaring seas is not the natural response to natural di...

Jeremiah 31:31-34 When will the “days are surely coming” finally get here? I know some will quickly point out “the days are surely coming...

This isn’t a proper conclusion to the Pentecost 19a texts but I wanted to promote my new blog Confessing the Lectionary . For those of you w...

Matthew 22:34-46 It is a sign of our sinfulness that we sacrifice the second greatest commandment on the altar of the first. By that I mean...

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 There are some scriptures that reveal the heart of Paul that is often hidden behind his stoic posture. We know he is...

Psalm 1 If the first psalm was written by David it must have been penned before he lingered on the balcony above Bathsheba or walked in h...

Leviticus 19:1-2 , 15-18 The Law is given as gift to a people who will wander in the wilderness for forty years so that the relationship beg...

If the details of our everyday were not so important to our sense of wellbeing we’d find it easier to live into radical messages of freedom...

Matthew 22:15-22 You can’t trap Jesus to brew your tea no matter what side of the party you sit on. This text is not about taxes. There a...

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 One reason Paul may be continually thankful for the church of the Thessalonians is because he is continually troub...

Psalm 96:1-13 Trees shout while the sea thunders and the fields rejoice and all people sing the refrain, “Great is the Lord and greatly to ...

Isaiah 45:1-7 Cyrus the Great was good to all the gods who had been displaced by the Babylonians returning “the images of the gods… to the...

The Café menu for Wednesday was Pastor Phil’s “even better than mom’s” Meatloaf, Potatoes Elaine (mashed red potatoes with the skin) the c...

Matthew 22:1-14 The interesting twist to “many are invited but few are chosen” is that the choice belongs to the invited. Granted the po...

Philippians 4:1-9 Paul writing from prison encourages the Philippians with a lovely laundry list of “whatever is” which goes well beyond the...

Psalm 23 The table prepared is in the presence of enemies, which makes one wonder about the relative calm of green pastures and quiet water...