Tag Archives: Jesus

Woe to you who are self-satisfied

Be the blessing that will bring us closer to the kingdom of God that Mary and Hannah sang of. Do the good in this moment, at this time and in this place, that will let others know the enduring love of God, who feeds us on bread and wine. Listen, heed the warnings that Jesus offers to those who think that they are untouched by the needs of others. Love God, love your neighbour, change their world, change our world. Continue reading

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Contempt and condemnation

There’s a deep irony to this parable, that whenever we read it, we are tempted, aren’t we, to mutter, “Thank God I’m not like that Pharisee!” … Continue reading

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Jealousy vs joy

Jealousy is the thief of joy. It keeps the elder brother from the family reunion. It prevents the citizen from celebrating the rescue of the refugee, the wealthy from celebrating Jesus’ announcement of good news for the poor and the meek. It resents the love of God for its rival, and leads to the casting of golden calves to spite them all. It clouds the vision of the scribes so that they do not even recognize the Word of God when he is standing right in front of them, telling stories from heaven. Continue reading

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Sabbath rest

It is Jesus who initiates the interaction with the weighed-down woman. It is he who chooses her healing, her liberation, before she has even a chance to ask for it. He is continuing his call, living into and living out the promises of our life-giving, liberating, loving God, whose first gift was life and all that sustains it, and perhaps whose second was sabbath: rest, relief, jubilee joy. Continue reading

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Division

A sermon for the tenth Sunday after Pentecost, August 17, 2025 You have heard it said (perhaps you have said it yourself) that we are living in the most divided era of our common and shared country, world, creation, since … Continue reading

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Fire

Storm that breaks the sealon the dome that holds the watersof the heavens apart from watersthat brooded life into creation Storm that breaks the heateven as fire is splitting the sky,falling to the ground wrappedin quenching rain Mirrored against the … Continue reading

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Teach us to pray

The story that Jesus tells suggests that we are in this together; that while one person is begging for bread, the one who is secure, safe and comfortable and tucked up in bed with their well-fed children, is the one who is called upon to answer, “and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” Continue reading

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Love one another?

A sermon for the fifth Sunday of Easter in 2025. Love is not a light undertaking. Love will break your heart. Love will ask you to move mountains. Love will require that you sacrifice your most closely held prejudices, melt … Continue reading

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Unbegrudging Jesus

Then Jesus showed up. Just as the light was dawning, just as the sun was rising behind them, the shore becoming shadowy and obscured by the smoke of his charcoal fire, so that they could barely make him out, but there he was. … still providing for them, still tending to them and feeding them, his lambs. Continue reading

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Forgiving and retaining

Forgiveness tells the truth; Jesus still carries the marks of the nails in his hands and his feet, and the soldiers and the scoffers cannot enter the space of peace while they are still carrying their hammers. Continue reading

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