Living the Lectionary

Joshua 5:9-12 Forty years of “what is it?” manna and now finally something new! Time and again in their wilderness wanderings the chil...

Luke 13:1-9 There is no cause and effect between sin and a tragic death but if you don’t repent you’ll suffer a tragic death. It seems...

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, or in other words, “you better not shout, you better not ...

Psalm 63:1-8 I've just come back from the Lutheran School of Theology Chicago. On the second floor of the welcome center there...

Isaiah 55:1-13 When I do the math God’s economy appears too good to be true for we know that nothing worth having is free because if s...

Luke 13:31-35 If the Pharisees, who know a thing or two about plotting to kill Jesus, are concerned maybe Jesus should pay attention. A...

Philippians 3:14 - 4:1 Pressing on towards the prize requires desire and will power and physical fitness which doesn't happen overnig...

Psalm 27 If you ask me this psalm asks too much. No Fear might work as a bumper sticker for a pick up truck but I’m afraid I would expe...

Genesis 15:1-18 I imagine PETA members would object to this text as in “I’d rather go childless than cut an animal in two” and I might ...

Luke 4:1-13 Country singer Lari White sings a song about temptation but she doesn’t need any help from the devil. “Lead me not into tempt...

Psalm 91 I can’t read Psalm 91 without humming “On Eagles Wings” and rightly so. This is a psalm that has to be sung in the same way as a...

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 Lent has always been my favorite season of the church year. I attribute it to being fed a steady diet of sad country ...

Luke 9:28-43 The lectionary allows the option of including the verses that describe what happens when Jesus comes down the mountain a...

2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 When Paul writes to the Romans of his kindred according to the flesh his sorrow is unceasing and his anguish is gr...

Psalm 99 The psalm begins as one might expect. The Lord who is King, enthroned above angelic beings, terrifying in their own right, cau...

Exodus 34:29-35 This is a strange story, but then the Bible is no stranger to strange stories. A burning bush, a plague or ten, fire an...

Luke 4:21-30 The sermon that began so well has taken a turn for the worse and Jesus has no one to blame but himself. Somewhere in the we...

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 It doesn’t matter if your language is laced with love if your words fall on deaf ears. And if Paul’s second lette...

Psalm 71:1-6 We will only recite the first six verses of Psalm 71 but I imagine Jeremiah knew the whole psalm by heart. It is a good psal...

Jeremiah 1:4-19 This is not the kind of call a prophet wants to receive. Given a choice a prophet, or a pastor for that matter, would pr...