August 20, 2017 Pentecost 11A Matthew 15:21-28

This week’s Gospel features a story about a woman, a Canaanite woman, and her daughter who is possessed by a demon. And nobody cares.

Not many did care. This woman was one of the “marginal” people living in Palestine 2000 years ago. She was an expendable […]

August 13, 2017 Pentecost 10A 1 Kings 19:9-18

I never stopped loving you Long enough to make a change I never stopped thinking of you Along the narrow way They can try and nail me down But after being with you I know you’ll always be around

When you were […]

August 6, 2017 Pentecost 9A Matthew 14:13-21

I don’t know about you, but all too often I seem to live my life out of a place scarcity. I tend to see the glass half empty, I am afraid there won’t be enough, and in the process I make myself scarce. The origin of […]

July 30, 2017 Pentecost 8A Romans 8:26-39

In this week’s appointed epistle from the book of Romans St. Paul writes confidently, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be […]

July 23, 2017 Pentecost 7A Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Once again Jesus tell us, “The Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to …” and then he goes on to tell us a parable that surprises, even shocks us, as we realize that the Kingdom of Heaven is radically different than the governments or powers of […]

July 16, 2017 Pentecost 6A Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

“And Jesus told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much […]

July 9, 2017 Pentecost 5A Romans 7:15-25; Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

This week the lectionary takes us to the very heart of the matter, St. Paul exclaims, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ….”

I don’t know […]

July 2, 2017 Pentecost 4A Matthew 10: 40-42

“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. … and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their […]

July 25, 2017 Pentecost 3A Matthew 10:24-39

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their […]

June 18, 2015 Pentecost 2A Genesis 18:1-15 [21:1-7]

In this week’s alternative Old Testament lesson from Genesis we find Abraham sitting in his tent under the Oak Trees of Mamre, resting from the heat of the midday sun. We don’t know exactly why Abraham chose this spot but trees have a way of calling […]