[RCL]: Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28; Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b, Romans 10:5-15; Matthew 14:22-33 Today’s Gospel features one of the most iconic of all Christian scenes: Christ coming to the disciples upon the waves. Jesus walking on water has become almost a cultural cliché; it graces everything from ancient icons to dollar store postcards. In this passage,…

RCL: Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16; Philippians 2:5-11; Matthew 27: 11-54 In the 1540s the great Finnish scholar Mikael Agricola began the project of his life: translating the New Testament into Finnish for the first time in history. It was a project of massive importance to the Finnish church, but Agricola faced a huge problem: How…

[RCL] Joel 2:1-2,12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12; Psalm 103 or 103:8-14; 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10; Matthew 6:1-6,16-21 There are times when our fellow Christians – and perhaps we ourselves – can be extremely iterating to the rest of society. Even setting aside the major downers like the Crusades, witch hunts, and the general condemnation of an astonishing…

[RCL] Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16; Romans 10:8b-13; Luke 4:1-13 “The only way to get rid of a temptation” Lord Henry advises Dorian Grey in Oscar Wilde’s novel, “is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself.” We, like Lord Henry, have the sense that when a desire…

[RCL] Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44 Today we enter a transformational, even magical time of year: for this is… the weekend between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and there are only 26 shopping days left until Christmas! It is time to spread sweetness and light among your loved ones by making all…

[RCL] Acts 2:1-21 or Genesis 11:1-9; Psalm 104:25-35, 37; Romans 8:14-17 or Acts 2:1-21; John 14:8-17, (25-27) As a nation, we love an unlikely origin story. From the rise of the working-class Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller to become titans of industry, to the legends of the garage tinkerers who became Apple and the…

[RCL] Exodus 3:1-15; Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c; Romans 12:9-21; Matthew 16:21-28 If one is to believe that great treasury of modern wisdom, “The Lion King,” life is a circle that eventually unwinds. Death is nothing more than the end of the story of life. Death is not something to mourn, but something to accept, even…

[RCL] Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14; Psalm 93; Revelation 1:4b-8; John 18:33-37 Today’s Gospel finds Pontius Pilate in a state of utter mystification. A seemingly harmless rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth, has been hauled before him as a crucial threat to the existence of the Roman Empire — a rival king — and to Pilate, this makes no…

[RCL] Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16; Philippians 2:5-11; Matthew 26:14- 27:66 or Matthew 27:11-54 Today we celebrate Palm Sunday, the triumphal procession of Christ through the streets of Jerusalem, when the men and women of the city shouted out “Hosannah!” to the Son of David, and laid at his feet… cloaks and branches? Why do we…

RCL: 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14; Psalm 111; Ephesians 5:15-20; John 6:51-58 What does it mean to have eternal life? Is this simply going to Heaven and living forever? Intuitively, eternal life seems like an unlimited number of days — our lives extended over an infinite expanse of time — but that’s not actually what eternal…