Living the Lectionary

Luke 24:13-49 “We had hoped…” is how Cleopas and friend express the deep disappointment at what could have been but wasn’t. To have c...

Psalm 116 “I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice” is comforting because of the verse that follows. “Precious in the sight of t...

Acts 2:14, 36-41 “What should we do?” It is a legitimate question even if Peter gives what may be the wrong answer. "Repent and be...

John 20:19-31 There are those who say faith dare not doubt while others claim faith without doubt is no faith at all. I’m not sure I care...

1 Peter 1:3-9 There is a stoic tendency in the Christian tradition, as in the proverbial British “stiff upper lip” or the Norwegian mantr...

  Trinity Lutheran Church, Pottsville, TX Here's a re-post from 2011. Pauline Hopper was a longtime member of Calvary who I v...

Acts 10:22-32 Peter’s Pentecost sermon, addressed to those familiar with the story of salvation, is a fitting text for the first Sunda...

Colossians 3:1-11 Paul’s resurrection perspective “if you have been raised with Christ” might be better understood as “ since ” you have b...

Psalm 118 Re-posted pretty much every year On the morning of May 25th 2000 I was sitting in my brother’s backyard in Chicago drinking ...

Acts 10:34-43 “I truly understand that God shows no partiality…” It is as radical a statement as a Jew can make, even one who has been h...

Matthew 26:14-27:66 The passion narrative according to Matthew begins with a plot to betray. Conspiracy theorists not withstanding th...

Psalm 31:9-16  Even well meaning, close friends have come to dread asking the psalmist weak with sorrow, consumed by anguish, “how are...

Isaiah 50:4-9 The teacher who sustains the weary with a word was himself a student of suffering. Gifted by the Lord God with the teache...

John 11:1-45 Jesus stayed two days longer in the place where he was after he heard Lazarus was ill and the sisters know it. “If you had be...

Mathematical symbol for Therefore (or connect the dots for the Trinity?) Romans 8:1-11 The eighth chapter of Romans begins with a ca...

Psalm 130 I’ve done my share of out of the depths watching for the morning through a night that refuses to end. It may be the loneliest ...

Ezekiel 37:1-14 The whole house of Israel held captive in Babylon has been living the twenty-seven chapters of judgment God speaks throu...

John 9:1-41 The Pharisees ask Jesus to name the sin responsible for the man’s blindness even though the way they see it the parents are...

Ephesians 5:8-14 I don’t think we have to do much soul searching to find out what is pleasing to the Lord in the same way that we kno...

1 Samuel 16:1-13 The Lord does not judge by outward appearance or the height of one’s stature even though Samuel feels compelled to tel...