The fourth Sunday of Easter is known as Good Shepherd Sunday—you may notice many of the readings have to do with this idea of God as shepherd. But the season after Easter is also a time that we are given snippets of the Book of Acts to wade thru. Acts opens a window into the life of the very first Christian communities: ordinary people figuring things out as they go after the resurrection. What unfolds is not just a story of belief, but of a community being reshaped into a p

I want to start by sharing that for most of this week, I had an entirely different sermon planned. You’ll know this to be true because of the printed out labyrinths in your bulletin today. I was planning to invite you to use them as I preached on the road to Emmaus being like a labyrinth—full of twists and turns, with an ability to see the center, not a maze but not always a clear path—and how we could see this in the story from Luke today. And that is still likely true and y

Good morning! It’s good to be back with you all. I’m honestly glad to be here on this second Sunday of Easter. This Sunday doesn’t always get a preacher’s best work—we’re tired after Holy Week, sometimes even away—but even in a different kind of exhaustion, I’m grateful to sit with this text and wonder what it has to say as we begin the Easter season. What strikes me about this moment for the disciples after the resurrection is how different it is from how Easter is celebrate

You may recall that I love the poet Mary Oliver. I love the way she tells the truth about the world—its beauty, its ache, its ordinary holiness. She had this gift of looking directly at what is real and still finding, tucked somewhere inside it, a glimmer of wonder. There’s a poem of hers called Don’t Hesitate , that is fitting for Advent. It begins: If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. And she goes on: Joy is not made to be a crumb. Joy i

There is something about Advent that asks us to sit with holy discomfort. While the world is already singing carols, stringing lights, and racing through to-do lists, here in the church the tone is different. Advent is slower. Advent is spacious. Advent is honest. It asks us not only to remember that Christ came long ago, but to prepare our lives and hearts for Christ’s coming now — and Christ’s coming again. Last week, we heard Jesus in Matthew 24 speak unsettling words: Two

O God, Creator and Ground of All Being, We come together because we need you, We need each other, And we need to hear your Word. And if we hear it here, may we be so possessed by it That we become servants of it out in your world. We pray this in Christ who was, and is, and is to come. Amen. It is told that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified on a cross between two other crosses, on each of which hung a convicted thief. One of the thieves joined in the chorus of an unruly cro

There are weeks when the lectionary readings feel uncomfortably close to home—like a “ripped from the headlines” TV episode. When Jesus talks about the destruction of the temple, the collapse of kingdoms, wars and uprisings, earthquakes, families divided, people betrayed—it can feel painfully familiar. There’s war and unrest. Political tension and distrust. People struggling to buy groceries or navigate a healthcare system that so often feels impossible. Families stretched to

When I dropped Mac off for daycare on Friday, Halloween, I have never met a room of more joyful 3- and 4-year-old boys in my life. This was because on this day, the boys weren’t just boys, but instead they were the Hulk, Spider-Man, Captain America, Batman, and a Ninja Turtle. The amazement with which they all took each other in—recognizing their favorite characters in the faces and on the bodies of some of their best buddies—was so joy-filled, so wonder-filled. The way the

Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt. This is how Luke introduces today’s story. Not, “to the Pharisees,” not “to the crowd,” not “to the disciples.” To “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous.” Jesus has been moving back and forth in this part of Luke’s Gospel—sometimes speaking to the disciples, sometimes to the Pharisees, sometimes to the crowds. This time, the audience is inte

O God of all that is good, we come to you hungry, burdened, and uncertain. We come to you alone and together, by plan and by accident, or so it seems. And then you come to us, when we are alone and when we are together, and there is love. Let us feel your presence, that we might lay down our burdens and carry those of others, Let us hear your voice, that we might fill ourselves, and fill others, with your grace and strength. Let us know that we are blessed, that we may bless

Good morning, friends, and welcome—two-legged and four-legged alike. There’s something about gathering together with our companions, our...

O God of all Mystery and all Strength We come together because we need you, We need each other, And we need to hear your Word. ...

As an older millennial, it often feels like my whole life has been marked by “unprecedented times.” Columbine happened when I was in...

Recently, to my horror and surprise, Mac actively started using the word hate. When he’s frustrated with me or Thomas, or when he’s asked...

What if you thought of it as the Jews consider the Sabbath — the most sacred of times? Cease from travel. Cease from buying and selling....

God of all Hope and Expectation-- We come together because we need you, Because we need each other, And because we need to hear your...

Spoiler Alert: Most of the readings we heard read today circle around money, possessions, and greed. And it would be easy for me to...

Lord, teach us to pray—not just with words but with wonder. Help us rediscover what we’ve grown too familiar with. May the prayer we...

The parable is a favorite teaching vehicle of Jesus. He is a storyteller, and uses parables in order to embody his message to his...

God of love and mystery We come together because we need you, We need each other, And we need to hear your word. And if we hear it here,...