Our many years of observing Palm Sunday with the waving of branches and shouts of hosanna have made us so familiar with the story that we have perhaps lost a sense of what is so odd about it. For the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem is a strange story. We also forget that […]

The writer of our story from John this morning clearly wants us to see Mary and Judas as contrasting examples from whom a lesson is to be learned. Obviously, Mary is the positive example, receiving Jesus’ praise, support, and protection, and Judas is the negative example receiving Jesus’ rebuke, and the narrator’s harsh condemnation. And […]

In a nation and a world that is divided by so much right now I bet we could all agree that this little passage from Luke for this morning is really tough. So tough that most would choose to avoid it, but not the creators of our lectionary. They have made sure that we deal […]

Hello, let me introduce myself to you this morning. My name is Reuben. Your rector needed a little break this morning from preaching, so she asked if I would say a few words to you. I was born in the first century by your calendar. Probably around the same year your Jesus was born. When […]

At the beginning of the week, when I first sit down with the Gospel reading for the coming Sunday, I am always looking for themes in the passage that are relevant for us today. There are many possible themes in our Gospel reading from Luke for today that could be preached upon: temptation and evil […]

All of us live by a story or a narrative that forms how we see the world and ourselves. Most of the time we are unaware of the story that guides our every action and thought. We just think that the way we see the world is the way the world is. And usually, the […]

I am going to read aloud some of Jesus most difficult words. Not all of them mind you, for that would take too long. As I read them aloud, think about which one is the most difficult for you. I am then going to ask for some of you to share out loud which saying […]

For those of you who notice details or are familiar with the idiosyncrasies of Episcopal worship you will have registered that the colors of our adornments are not green today, as would be the norm for the ordinary time of Epiphany, but have instead returned to white. One reason for this, of course, is because […]

In this week of the Presidential Inauguration, an interesting article from the Smithsonian Institute Magazine popped up in my feed entitled “A brief history of presidential inaugural speeches from George Washington to today” (Claire Jerry, published 1/14/2025). Being the history-minded person that I am I clicked on the link. The article cited the work of […]

Because very few of us regularly sit down and read entire books of the Bible from start to finish in one or just a few readings, we don’t often think about why the author of a particular book put a story where it is in the narrative. For example, Matthew says that Jesus’ first public […]