RCL Reflection for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B
February 7, 2021
Why are you a Christ follower? Do you have a clear, concise answer that you can adapt to meet folks where they are? If not, may this week’s lessons give you some ideas, some courage, and some confidence that you can share the good news at any age and stage of life. (Image: Jesus Mural of Faith, Hope, Love, and Peace, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
RCL Reflection for the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B, January 31, 2021
All four lessons this week have plenty to say about authority. The big question for us today is this: Whose authority do we trust and follow? I suspect if we are honest with ourselves, Jesus has a little bit of competition these days.
RCL Reflection for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B, January 24, 2021
This week’s lessons all explore, at least in part, the concept of time and timing. Of course, how we respond to time and timing is what matters, especially when it comes to following Jesus in this world and beyond. How might you speak about God’s sense of timing in a time-obsessed world?
RCL Reflection for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany Year B,
January 17, 2021
Jesus calls: “Follow me.” He meets us where we are, but this is not where the Christ expects us to stay. Folks, faithful discipleship is hard work. We have to keep Jesus front and center every day of the week and every hour of the day. We have to go wherever Jesus leads, 24/7. (Photo: TeeCee, Creative Commons)
RCL Reflection for the Baptism of the Lord, Year B, January 10, 2021
In Jesus’ own baptism his ministry is inaugurated, and in doing so the church comes into being through water and word—one big wild, wet, welcoming family. We all can make an effort to remember our own gift of baptism every day and to give thanks for the life-giving gift of water that God proclaimed good.
RCL Reflection, 2nd Sunday after Christmas Day, Year B, January 3, 2021
Like John the Baptist’s, our job is not to justify but testify. We tell how Jesus’ amazing story impacts our lives, how the Christ draws us to participate in the making the world aright. The story both is and isn’t about us. Each of us is inextricably woven into the grand narrative’s fabric, but this is all about God’s action toward humankind.
RCL Reflection for the Epiphany of the Lord, Year B, January 6, 2021Remaining focused on what’s important—that which matters to God—is what we are charged with doing. It’s what the Magi did. They also brought the very best of themselves and their resources with them to honor Jesus. Do we bring the very best of ourselves, our first fruits, to the work of the Body of Christ?
RCL Reflection, 1st Sunday after Christmas, Year B, December 27, 2020
Christians can recognize the inner child, the child that has been redeemed and welcomed into God’s family as full participants, with all the rights, privileges, and promises of the Christ. We are not temporary members of God’s family but rather real children, adopted in love. (Photo: barnimages, Creative Commons)
RCL Reflection for the Nativity of the Lord, Year B, December 24, 2020
Worship leaders, musicians, preachers, teachers, congregational leaders, and worshipers are being asked once again to be creative, to think outside the box, to put aside our fears, insecurities, and concerns in order to give this ancient good news a fresh take in a strange time. Perhaps remembering Gabriel’s words to Mary “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).
RCL Reflection, Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year B, December 20, 2020
In this time of pandemic, unrest, anger, and suffering, Christians still see the possibilities for a different world, one where the way of Christ breaks in and illumines the shadows of despair, shatters the bonds of evil, and welcomes all to the table equally with divine love and mercy.
