Living the Lectionary

Philippians 2:5-11 Though he was in every way God, Christ Jesus did not consider equality with God something to be exploited but emptied him...

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

  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 teacher’s...

  Josef Žáček b. 1951 - Resurrection 1988 Psalm 121 Psalm 121 is read at graveside services even though it would seem help from the hills i...

  Genesis 17:1-16 Ninety-nine is not too old for a new life and a name change, though Abraham might have preferred to be circumcised as an i...

  Matthew 4:1-11 It is right after Jesus’ baptism when The Voice from heaven declared “You are my beloved Son” that the Spirit led him into ...

  Romans 5:12-21 The fifth chapter of Romans articulates the great reversal we make conditional by claiming it cannot be fully accomplished...

  Psalm 32 My guess is that we have all lived through more than a day and night of “when I kept silence my body wasted away.” Of course some...

  Genesis 2:15-3:21 However you read this story, as literal truth or origin myth, it is dead on about humanity’s fatal flaw. Living in parad...

  Matthew 17:1-9 I've been away from my blog for the past two weeks because I had a stroke last Monday. I've been in the hospital an...

  Psalm 112 Psalm 112 might be titled the “early to bed early to rise makes one healthy wealthy and wise” psalm. But it might also merit a G...

Isaiah 58:1-12 I’m not a big fan of the theological conditional clause “If” which is why I lean towards the Lutheran understanding of saved ...

Matthew 5:1-12 Those of us who have been forever contaminated by close contact to Monty Python’s movie “Life of Brian” are no longer able to...

1 Corinthians 1:18-31 I’ve spent significant time, energy and resources learning the proper way to talk about this foolish message. It seems...

Psalm 15 These are not requirements for entering the tent of the Lord but a description of what happens to those who abide there. Ones who s...

Micah 6:1-8  The controversy God has with the people of Micah’s time is that they prefer ritual righteousness to righteous acts, though tru...

Matthew 4:12-23 I don’t want to burst any Bible balloons but Matthew’s call of the disciples is quite different from the Gospel of John. I’m...

1 Corinthians 1:10-18 The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins today as it does every year snice its inception (1908) and yet divisions...

Psalm 27:1, 4-9 The confidence celebrated in Psalm 27 is not due to the absence of things of which one might rightly be afraid. In fact the ...

John 1:29-42 How is “Rabbi, where are you staying?” an answer to “What are you looking for?” unless of course what the two disciples are lo...