Mess, Message, Messiah

May 19, 2024
We want—and, indeed, need—time for ourselves.  Self-care is important!  And Christ shows us a model of sacrificial living that may well feel exhausting: when do I get time for me,…
00:00
00:00

It Is Finished

March 31, 2024
“[W]hen the sabbath was over” (16:1), the women bought what they needed to finish the unfinished burial rites.  They couldn’t finish!  The law made them unable to finish.  The traditional…
00:00
00:00
“What is truth?”  Oh, it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.  In Jesus Christ, Superstar, what Pilate goes on to say has always stuck with me: “We all have truths! …
00:00
00:00

The Problem of Listening

February 14, 2024
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.  Those are funeral words, graveside words, goodbye words.  I’ve baptized many, marking them with water.  Today, I mark you with ashes.  Nothing in Scripture…
00:00
00:00
The Offering of Common Kindness—Mt 25:31-46 In the age of cellphones, it’s even easier to pass by people who may be in need.  Surely, they have phones too.  Surely, there’s…
00:00
00:00

Keep Your Appointment

November 12, 2023
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven” (7:21).  That hurts.  Does that mean that you can believe you’re being a faithful follower all your…
00:00
00:00
Child of the ‘70s that I am, Star Wars was a big event in my young life, especially the spectacular climax: how could those big, bright torpedoes go down those…
00:00
00:00

We Are the Church, Together

October 29, 2023
It’s not judging when one person says to another: that’s a really rotten thing you just did.  It’s not judging to say you’re hurting our relationship and you’re hurting yourself. …
00:00
00:00

Truth Lovingly Applied

July 23, 2023
Mercy forgives.  Forgiveness does not undo the consequences of our sin; this is why you and I must struggle, continually, against those impulses to sin that come and knock, like…
00:00
00:00
“One in heart and mind” (4:32) is how we speak of people close as can be.  We tend to reserve that sort of talk for those very much in love. …
00:00
00:00