Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. Today’s parable is unique to the Gospel of Luke. As with most parables, the language is highly condensed and the meaning is wide open. In fact, in these eight short verses we find theological key words and topics…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. I promise I’m not jumping ahead in the service, but please play along. The Lord be with you. And also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. I confess to you now that this sermon has a disappointing lack of St. Francis in it, but I hope you will check out the Shell Newsletter article from Thursday which is all about him. +++ Jesus said to…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. Last week’s Gospel parable about the wise use of “dishonest wealth” ended with this warning: You cannot serve God and wealth. It is just as stark a warning for us as it was for those who heard…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. In today’s Gospel reading Jesus upends the commonplace idea that religious communities are only meant to be places of moral excellence and respectability. Clean up your act, the theory goes, and then you’ll be welcome in…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. Today we read all but the last four verses of the Letter to Philemon – which is the shortest Epistle in the New Testament. For all that it is short, it has had an outsized influence…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. We are nearly half-way through Ordinary Time – this long season after Pentecost that spans nearly half the year. It is a season of growth and study when we walk chronologically through one of the synoptic…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. The beginning of Luke’s Gospel proclaims that Jesus will “guide our feet into the way of peace” (1:79). Near the end of the Gospel, the resurrected Jesus appears among his friends and offers a benediction of…