09102022 – Luke 15. 1-10 Dustin E. is an incarcerated man of color. He wrote the following poem from his prison cell. Because on that given day, the scriptures spoke to him. It was actually the first time he ever heard about “the lost coin.” Here’s what he penned. “If you feel like a big […]
09072022 – Luke 14. 25-33 Jesus never regarded “a LARGE FOLLOWING” as necessarily “a GOOD SIGN.” For one thing: you did not need an advanced degree to know WHO were some of the people in “those crowds.” Jesus was positive that in those large and massive crowds, you could find peppered throughout: “Pharisees,” “Sadducees,” “Scribes,” […]
09042022 – Luke 14. 25-33 Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German LUTHERAN pastor, theologian, an anti-Nazi DISSIDENT, and key founding member of the “CONFESSING Church.” His writings on Christianity’s role in the “secular world” have become “WIDELY INFLUENTIAL,” and his book “The COST of DISCIPLESHIP” is described as being “a modern classic.” Apart from his “theological writings,” Bonhoeffer was known for his […]
07162022 – Luke 10. 38-42 Its “weird” what people “get out” of – or “force out” of the various gospel lessons. For example: It is ok for women to be “pitted against one another,” for them to be in “conflict and competition,” because its in the Bible! Mary versus Martha, it’s in […]
07132022a – WHO is “MY” Neighbor? Lk.10. 25- 37 The lawyer answered Jesus, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; AND your NEIGHBOR as yourself.” But then, the lawyer turned to Jesus and asked him, “WHO […]
07092022 – Luke 10. 25-37 The accounts of people “finding reasons” NOT TO COME TO SOMEONE’S AID are “just as common” as “PEOPLE IN NEED.” Both are PLENTEOUS. People fear INVOLVEMENT. People fear ENTRAPMENT. People fear LITIGATION. People fear the UNKNOWN. Heck, we even fear each other. ( A kind of anthropro-phobia, fearing other people.) […]
07102022 – Luke 10. 25-37 A little bit of a different take…on this one: This strikes me as being all very academic. After all, we are dealing with an uppity-snootie-academician. It’s like he and Jesus are playing a game of “cat and mouse.” The legal expert trying “to get one-up on Jesus” and discredit him […]
07062022 – Luke 10. 1-11, 16-20 There is actually a field of study called “numerology, the study of numbers…” The number “70” appears in the scriptures a lot! Maybe even more than a lot! The number 70 is an “important number-historically as well as traditionally.” “70” like 7, is a number of completeness or wholeness. […]
07022022 – Luke 10. 1-11, 16-20 I tell you; this Jesus guy is not an easy guy to follow. He expects a lot of you. More than a lot…it’s like he expects everything…the world, even. Doesn’t he get it? Doesn’t he understand? We are human. We are not God. We are not perfect. Far […]
06292022 – Luke 9. 51-62 Our Gospel text is about “resistance” and at the very same time, it is about “excuses.” We know something about both. Something tells me there is a little “resistance” in all of us, and a whole lot of “excuses” in there…as well. We stand in opposition and “resist” a great […]