12122020 – John 1. 6-8, 19-28 Advent 3B WOW! If ever there were a text for the year 2020 this would be it! You know you flip on the news…and it really truly is the same old, same old. Nothing good to speak of…although sometimes they DO find something positive to report…no matter how […]
10282020 – John 8. 31-36 All this talk of “slavery” and of “being a slave” does not go over well today… It’s time has more than come…we have all these twenty-first-century sensitivities…to deal with… It’s awkward, it really is… In this rather “sometimes” – “enlightened age of ours,” language can easily […]
10242020 – John 8. 31-36 As Lutherans, we know “a little something-something” about Martin Luther. And of course, some of us know “more than others…” Luther’s father Hans, prospered in “the local copper-refining business” and was a councilor for the town of Mansfeld, Germany. We know Luther was very smart and highly intelligent…and excelled in […]
05032020 – John 20. 19-23 Pentecost That Jesus he was a “CRAFTY ONE.” But it really-truly-depended upon WHO you talked to… Some said he was “as FOXY” as they come, SLY, CUNNING, SLICK, he could talk his way OUT OF anything. And he always saw to it, that he WON every-single-argument or confrontation. […]
05302020 – John 20. 19-23 The disciples were AFRAID. We get that. They were huddled together behind locked and closed-tight-doors. You might have called them “scare-D-cats!” And WE, unfortunately, can relate to their predicament! We have been scared, too! They feared (not a pandemic) but rather, the Roman and religious authorities of their […]
05242020 – John 17. 1-11 So, this week I did a STUDY on the word “GINOSKO” – The GREEK word GINOSKO means to “LEARN to KNOW,” or to “COME to know,” “to get KNOWLEDGE of,” “to PERCEIVE” or “to FEEL.” It means “to UNDERSTAND.” “To become “acquainted WITH, to know.” I pushed FORWARD. I had […]
05172020 – Jn. 14. 15-21 Our Gospel lesson for this morning takes us BACK IN TIME. This year YOU COULD NOT BE PRESENT for the celebration. The sanctuary was EMPTY. The day was called, “MAUNDY Thursday” or “HOLY Thursday” of HOLY WEEK. We were ALONE, here, in the sanctuary. On the FLOOR before the […]
05102020 – John 14. 1-14 (Mother’s Day Weekend) – Easter 5 The disciples were DISTRAUGHT. It seems to me they are portrayed as being OFTEN “confused and anxious.” They were “constantly concerned” about “way too many things…” THEREFORE, they easily became “distracted, flustered, and worried,” DOES THIS SOUND LIKE anybody WE […]
05032020 – John 10. 1-10 Just in the way of some background info…young Hebrew boys of the first century would memorize THE ENTIRE TORAH. Yep, the COMPLETE books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. And they would be TESTED on it, too! And you thought MY CONFIRMATION classes WERE challenging or hard! All Hebrew […]
04182020 – John 20. 19-31 (Easter II) Let’s talk about some of the “BAD BOYS of the BIBLE.” Only, let’s be a LITTLE BIT MORE specific. Let’s just talk about “the twelve.” Those twelve-peachy-guys-hand-selected-by Jesus, himself! Now obviously, he KNEW what he was doing! He KNEW what he was GETTING HIMSELF in TO! 12 guys! […]