How many times does the same miracle performed by Jesus get recorded in all four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John)? Honestly, I’m not going to give you time to really think about this, because the total number doesn’t require too much counting. That’s because...
Weeds, rocks, thorns – there’s a lot that threatens to kill newly sown seed. But what of those seeds that land in good soil? What of the seeds that are sown, that take off? What does one do with good growth and varied sizes of...
Today on Father’s Day, when we want to be together and celebrate with love and family, we’ve got Jesus coming along saying “For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother.” What’s a preacher to do with...
Where are you from? A number of African-American women spoke to the public at the end of the Black Lives Matter Solidarity March on Sunday evening. Madison Alder Barbara Harrington-McKinney spoke about how quick we are to judge one another when we don’t even know each...
The First Pentecost The story of Pentecost from the Book of Acts has so much going on, that it’s hard to pick a highlight for our attention. Still, here’s what hits home for me, right now, from this great story of the Holy Spirit’s grand stirring...
Jesus said, “This is my commandment: That you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12) In normal times, personal contact is the typical way we express our Christian care and love for one another as the body of Christ. As a routine part...
May 21, 2020 is officially Ascension Day in the Christian calendar throughout the world. Ascension Day always takes place on a Thursday, as it occurs 40 days after Easter Sunday. In that time frame, the story of Jesus’ ascension sits between the stories we’ve been...
"I don't get it." Remember back when you were in a classroom at school? Who knew when I’d say this, I’d even be inviting our children to remember back when they were sitting in a classroom at school?! Wow – such times we are in! Anyway, no...
Shifting Identities In my experience, it seems that when life makes a big shift, I re-examine who I am and how I’m doing. Oh, not right away. Not right now in the moment of crisis when the world seems to have turned upside down. But after...
The Easter Story Continues In our gospel reading for this Sunday, it really still is the very first Easter Sunday. Jesus has just been raised from the dead. He’s appeared briefly to a few followers in resurrected form. A few others have heard that his body...
April 22, 2020 is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day As Christians, we celebrate that God created the world and God’s hand continues to create life. We are greatly blessed with the natural world we live in. As people of faith, we also take our Biblical...
Timely Reading Today we read another long gospel story like the ones we’ve read the last several weeks. As a mainline Christian church, we read these gospel stories in a pre-assigned 3-year cycle. What has surprised me about the last couple weeks of Bible gospel readings,...
Time for a Restart Our theme for Lent at Good Shepherd is “Spiritual Reboot: Building Resiliency for a Life of Faith”. As our worship staff brainstormed, looking at the Bible readings that will run through Lent, we kept hearing scripture’s call for us to strengthen the...
Age-Old Infighting In our Gospel today (Matthew 5:13-20), Jesus calls us to dedicate ourselves to be salt and light in the world, in order to witness to the kingdom of God in our midst. As we think of our own flavor and illumination that we bring...
A Word About Isaiah “Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord”. This verse from (Isaiah 2:5) is our theme for Advent. Each week a phrase from this invitation from the prophet Isaiah will frame our preaching. Let me give you a bit of...