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Toenails and Thomas
John 20:19-31
In revealing the broken bones and bloody toes we experience, we are drawn into a great circle of healing and being healed. There is this constant dialogue—constant dance—of us caring for one another and being cared for.
To Tell the Truth
EASTER SUNDAY | Matthew 28:1-10
When the truth is proclaimed loudly and boldly, like we see at this empty tomb, it causes an earthquake. But it also brings Christ into closer proximity to our fear, and doubt, and pain, and brings us into closer proximity to his love, and grace, and freedom.
For the Bible Tells Us So
MAUNDY THURSDAY | John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Tonight, we will hear a long, painful story about the Passion of Jesus. But we aren’t hear to simply know that Jesus loves us. We’re here to go, and act, and change the world for his sake.
Not Enough
Matthew 14:13-22
The crowd is faced with a similar temptation as Jesus: should we leave this wilderness out of hunger...? But this time, Jesus doesn’t need them to martyr themselves. Jesus lets them be hungry, and meets them with compassion.
Great Is “My” Faithfulness
Matthew 12:1-14
Here we are, still having a two-thousand year old argument, still tempted to hold others up to the measuring stick of our own sense of faith. But if suspend our judgment, what might we learn from others’ supposedly-wayward faithfulness?
Law and Order
Matthew 5:1-13
There is no blessing for those who place order above wholeness, or the law above what is truly right. But there is a blessedness beyond reason to those who place wholeness and righteousness above human whims.
The Helpless God
John 1:1-14
We will only be able to worship this tiny, fragile baby Jesus, when we dwell in his presence with those who are vulnerable.
Reframing Refrains
Luke 2:1-20
Christ is brave enough, strong enough, powerful enough to stand the smell of this world, the ugly reality we know, the darkness all around us, and invite it into his eternal light.
Memento Mori
Romans 13:8-14; 14:1-4, 7-10
We join the Church today in remembering our mortality and that we die in the same manner that we were born: held in love, shepherded by the Lord of all, and part of a communion of saints that is far bigger and more beautiful than we can ever grasp.
A Church Without Asterisks
Matthew 25:31-46
One of the most unexpected divides in this story is between those who were trying to discern which people were “deserving” of grace and those who were extravagantly indiscriminate in their care for others.
Monopoly Money
LUKE 16:1-13
[Today's] parable stands out from the others, because it shows us that money can also be used to sculpt new relationships, mend the breaches of our community, and give unexpected freedom to those who are burdened.
Reverse Rapture
Luke 12:32-40
Christ will not come again as a militaristic punisher. Christ will come again as a guest from a wedding banquet — Christ will come from a place of abiding joy and unmeasurable love.
Plowing Ahead
Luke 9:51-62
Let the dead bury the dead, and let’s start making room for the living. Everything depends on plowing a furrow ahead, getting ready for the Spirit’s seeds of hope, and anticipating a harvest that our children and grandchildren will reap.
How Big Do You Think God Is?
Romans 5:1-5
God is so big, that even our faith—our very salvation—is an act of God... It is the faith of Jesus Christ which brings us into righteousness and peace.
Rubbernecked to Heaven
ASCENSION OF THE LORD ∙ Acts 1:1-11
These disciples are rubbernecked to heaven — to a spiritual event of the past, and a ministry of the past, and their ways of the past. In trying to figure it out, they forgot about Jesus’ words: “To Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Starting in Unlikely Places
EASTER SUNDAY ∙ John 20:1-18
There is a constellation of hope, and love, and joy in this place. It won’t make us unshakably certain, or unmovable strong. But it will make us alive — united in Christ, starstruck by the God of resurrections.
Beseeched, Implored, Commanded
MAUNDY THURSDAY · John 13:1, 31-35
Jesus orders us to love one another, indiscriminate of whether others are citizens or immigrants; criminals or not; Christian or not; sober or not; mentally ill or not; politically-aligned or not; reciprocally loving or not.
Connecting the Dots
PALM SUNDAY · Luke 19:28-40
Every Sunday, we witness God taking the island of misfit toys and assembling coronations, holy meals, unexpected anointings, and a new creation from it all. Through Jesus Christ, everything takes on a new meaning.
Singing Until There’s Resurrection!
John 12:1-8
As we enter into Holy Week starting next Sunday, we are encountering mysteries that can only be expressed in music and song. It’s a messy week steeped in humanity: the very same humanity that is full of joy, and beauty, and complexity, and pain, and uncertainty, and everything else under the sun; the very same humanity within us that sings.
A Song of Protest
Luke 18:1-8 and 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Today, we hear a parable about a widow who was willing to die on a hill. She sought justice, constantly, persistently, even foolishly, and made her whole life into a song of protest. She made her whole life into prayer – in her words and her deeds. Sometimes, it turns out, there are hills we should die on, where God asks us to make our lives into a prayer—and song—of protest.