04282021 – John 10. 11-18 I am no employer…I am but a simple wage earner. So, I have no idea about such things as wages, benefits, insurance, 401 K’s, Social Security, and governmental withholdings… My mom’s first job was as a carhop at the Northern Mist, a hamburger joint. She SAID, “She […]
04242021 – John 10. 11-18 You do understand that we are living in unprecedented times…right? (Pause) Reaching the end of a job interview – the interviewer asked the young applicant, fresh out of college, with a new Bachelor’s Degree in his hand, “And what kind of a starting salary were you looking for?” The applicant […]
04172021 – Luke 24. 13-49 The truth be told…it is another very odd gospel story. Very Odd. I mean who would write this stuff? And publish it? For the whole world to read and to see? The paradox of “Christian “DIS”-BELIEVERS” is a biblical fact, “believe it or not.” That “First Easter dawn was […]
04132021 – John 20. 19-31 Easter – Week 2 – Series B – the year of Mark, but we find ourselves once again, in the Gospel of John. A lot of people do not GET the timeline here. The timeline IS extremely important. The timeline IS THE CONTEXT. When our Gospel text opens up, IT […]
04102021 – John 20. 19-31 Fear, uncertainty, and doubt surrounded the disciples. FUD. Yep, that’s a thing! FUD-fear, uncertainty, and doubt. This is critical in our “contextual understanding.” Context is everything. They were “fearful people” behind locked doors. (Today, there would have been multiple locks, cameras, security systems and probably, guns.) We […]
Easter Wednesday – April 7th, 2021 Living in denial–is as old as they come…and telling ourselves untruths is commonplace. People frequently say things like: “I’ve smoked thirty to sixty cigarettes a day since I was a kid. Cigarettes won’t kill me.” “What’s a couple extra pounds – during a pandemic, everyone has gained some weight.” […]
Easter – 04042021 – 10:00 A.M. Mark’s Gospel leaves people hopefully “wondering,” and “longing for more.” The Tomb is empty. Jesus is nowhere to be seen. The three women (Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome) are greeted by an “unknown messenger…” Early in the morning…the darkness still […]
Holy Saturday – 2021 – “The Day After… Jesus was crucified. Killed in a most horrific manner. And it all happened just yesterday. No one knew quite what to do! We were all at a loss… Seems like an eternity ago…and yet, it was just mere hours… His body was placed in […]
Good Friday – 2021 What a “supreme paradox.” How strange. How odd. How queer. How totally unexpected. How different. We now call the day Jesus was crucified, “Good.” It was NOT always so. And of course, many people wonder WHY? Why-good? Why, Good Friday? A great many scholars believe this name simply […]
03312021 – Maundy Thursday Maundy Thursday offers to us a gospel that purposefully turns everything on its ear. And intentionally so. The mandate, “the mandatory thing” Jesus tells us to do in this passage is this: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you […]