On Ash Wednesday we begin our forty-day journey toward Easter with a day of fasting and repentance. Marking our foreheads with dust, we acknowledge that we die and return to the earth. At the same time, the dust traces the life-giving cross indelibly marked on our foreheads at baptism. While we journey through Lent to…
With excitement building for Super Bowl weekend in society, we – as disciples of Jesus – find joy this Sunday celebrating the Transfiguration of our Lord! We remember how Peter, James & John journeyed with Jesus for a mountaintop experience so amazing, that it made any Super Bowl game or halftime show pale in comparison.…
This weekend, there is excitement over a groundhog who did not see his shadow and predicts an early spring. But more than that, as people of faith, we are excited that long ago Jesus came out of a tomb and did not turn back, in spite of the shadow of a cross and all the…
In Deuteronomy God promises to raise up a prophet like Moses, who will speak for God; in Psalm 111 God shows the people the power of God’s works. For the church these are ways of pointing to the unique authority people sensed in Jesus’ actions and words. We encounter that authority in God’s word, around…
As we continue through the time after Epiphany, stories of the call to discipleship show us the implications of our baptismal calling to show Christ to the world. Jesus begins proclaiming the good news and calling people to repentance right after John the Baptist is arrested for preaching in a similar way. Knowing that John…
All the baptized have a calling in God’s world. God calls not just pastors and deacons but also the youngest child, like Samuel. The story of the calling of Nathanael plays with the idea of place. Nathanael initially dismisses Jesus because he comes from Nazareth. But where we come from isn’t important; it’s where—or rather…
Our re-creation in baptism is an image of the Genesis creation, where the Spirit of God moved over the waters. Both Mark’s gospel and the story in Acts make clear that it is the Spirit’s movement that distinguishes Jesus’ baptism from John’s. The Spirit has come upon us as upon Jesus and the Ephesians, calling…
“Glory to God in the highest, and peace to God’s people on earth!” Here, in the great 12-day season of Christmas, the praise & prayer of angels continue to inspire our ongoing celebration of Christ’s birth. While society has moved on from its holiday and now focuses on a secular New Year’s Eve, we followers…
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is Given!” This joyful weekend, our Advent cries of “Prepare the way of the Lord” shift to wondrous sounds of Christmas good news for the world: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the…
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is Given!” This joyful weekend, our Advent cries of “Prepare the way of the Lord” shift to wondrous sounds of Christmas good news for the world: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the…