RCL Reflection for Reformation Sunday Year A/21st Sunday after Pentecost Year A, October 25, 2020
Perhaps the reformation needed now is to use our freedom to love as Christ compels us. This love of God and neighbor is not optional; it is the very foundation of our faith and a visible, tangible sign of Christ’s body in the world. (Image: Elvert Barnes, Creative Commons)
RCL Reflection for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost Year A
October 18, 2020
What belongs to God? A Christian knows, at least intellectually, that all things belong to God. But we don’t live as if that’s true. We’re all tested and tried as the world competes for our allegiances. This week’s gospel sets us straight. (Photo: NASA Universe, Creative Commons)
RCL Reflection for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, October 11, 2020
Here is a different take on the Parable of the Wedding Banquet. This week we learn how one non-conformist Jesus shows us a different path to real life—a life beyond the violence, hatred, power jockeying, and window dressing. And this, my friends, is very good news indeed.
RCL Reflection, 18th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, October 4, 2020
A little refresher course on the Ten Commandments and other faith basics is always appropriate, especially in these divisive times. Offering a fresh view of beloved community in light of our baptismal covenant is spot on. God desires relationship with us and provides good guidance to gather healthy, holy, and whole communities.
RCL Reflection for September 27, 2020
God’s been focusing on community since God spoke everything into being with “let us,” not “let me.” We can’t do this difficult work on our own, but by the grace of God, the love of Christ, and the nudging of the Holy Spirit we can lean into community, converse across divides, and find common ground. (hoto: Wonder Woman0731, Creative Commons)
RCL Reflection for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, September 20, 2020
Ever have the words “it’s not fair” slip from your lips? If you’re human, the answer is, “Of course!” That’s why the story of Jonah is as timely today as when it was first recounted. What can we learn from Jonah about ourselves, about God, and why it’s better to have a good God than a fair God? (Photo: dadblunders, Creative Commons)
RCL Reflection for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, September 13, 2020
Jesus, Paul, and Joseph have a lot to teach us about growing as disciples and as the Beloved Community. Through these lessons we learn to be bridge builders and faithful forgivers. Check out our preaching/teaching points for each lesson.
RCL Reflection for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, September 6, 2020
This week’s gospel reading gives us Jesus’ three-step plan for reconciliation and restoration. The approach us not a once-and-done proposition. Rather, it’s more of a “lean-in and keep at it until love prevails” kind of thing. But then, that’s the way of the Christ in stark contrast to the general messiness of humankind. (Photo: J T, Creative Commons)
Last Minute Preaching Points for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost Year A
The lessons this week offer a wonderful study in how disciples follow Jesus, navigating crossings and boundaries that inevitably present themselves every day. Both the lessons from Exodus and Jeremiah, and the epistle and gospel show us that God’s people have been wrestling with boundaries and crossings from the beginning of this great narrative.
RCL Reflection for August 30, 2020
We are called into a way of life that runs counter to everything the world tells us is worth having and doing and being. We are invited into community, splashed with water and word, filled with Spirit breath, and gifted to give and give and give some more. And that life is good–very, very good. (Photo: Robert Douglas, Creative Commons)
