RCL Reflection, 8th Sunday after Pentecost, July 18, 2021
Jesus encouraged his disciples to rest and care for themselves so that they could better care for others. How are we as individuals, leaders, and congregations encouraging good self-care stewardship practices? (Photo: Meagan, Creative Commons)
Lectionary Reflection, Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Year B.
July 11, 2021
Every choice we make has a consequence and a cost. We know that as people but also as disciples. Are we ready to speak God’s truth about hard issues, despite the potential costs to us?
Lectionary Reflection for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, July 4, 2021
In a world and cultural milieu where the church faces increasing challenges, these lessons offer both encouragement and a wake-up call for all who would be disciples. Christians have a different idea about what constitutes strength. (Photo: Andrea Piacquadio, Creative Commons.)
Lectionary Reflection for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
June 27, 2021
This week’s epistle lesson offers an excellent chance to talk about stewardship and generosity. After all, every sermon should be a stewardship sermon. Read on for ideas for preaching and teaching, worship, and time with youth and children.
RCL Reflection, Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 7, Year B
June 20, 2021
Heaven starts here—not at some pie in the sky future date when we’ve vacated this reality for eternity—so we might as well start living like it. After all, wouldn’t you rather be living in Christ’s reign than in a purgatory/hell of your own construction?
RCL Reflection for the Third Sunday after Pentecost, Year B, Proper 6, June 13, 2021
Once someone encounters the richness of Jesus’ teaching through parables, its like an entire new world opens up—a world beyond dualism and using scripture as a cudgel. They will begin to truly see what the kingdom of heaven is like now.
RCL Reflection for the Second Sunday after Pentecost, Year B, June 6, 2021
Church, it’s time we lamented and repented for not loving all God’s good children, for clinging to a few verses of scripture to defend our spurious claims to doctrinal purity and take a serious look at what Jesus says about the beloved community.
RCL Reflection for Holy Trinity Sunday, Year B, May 30, 2021
Our job as leaders, teachers, and preachers is to show the wondrous love of God beyond all knowing, trusting that the Divine One in Three and Three in One will indeed capture the hearts, minds, and lives of all who come to know the unknowable. Why would we settle for anything less?
Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost Sunday, Year B, May 23, 2021
This weekend we once again read the story of Ezekiel prophesying to the dry bones of Israel (and to us today) and the story of the first church at Pentecost. It’s up to each one of us to decide: Can we leave our petty differences at the door and welcome all people to Christ’s table of love and grace? Can we shed the skin of Christian nationalism to become the Church of that first Pentecost? Will we do whatever it takes to ignite the fire in our bellies that will lead to renewal and revival?
RCL Reflection for the Seventh Sunday of Easter Year B, May 16, 2021
Jesus’ prayer doesn’t seek to take us out of the world in some pie-in-the-sky version of rapture. It places us squarely here in the midst of the created order, and it lets us know that the Christ is right there with us—along with God the Creator and Author of all that is.
