Exploring Our Lord’s Parables “All this Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable.” Matthew 13 May 25 Session One Luke 8: 4 -15 The Parable of the Sower June 1 Session Two Luke 10: 29-37 The Parable of the Good Samaritan June 8 Session…
The Book of Judges contains a diverse collection of stories set in the 13th and 12th centuries BCE. In this period, the twelve tribes of Israel formed a very loose confederation. These tribes, along with various Canaanite tribes occupied the inland hill-country of what is Modern Israel. People known as “Philistines” dominated the coastal…
Readings – Jeremiah 17: 5-10; Psalm 1; I Corinthians 15: 12-20; Luke 6: 17-26 Jesus was a community gatherer. Remember when his mother and sisters and brothers wanted to speak with him while he was teaching? He motioned to the gathered people and said, “these are my sisters and brothers”. His loving embrace reached the…
Readings – Isaiah 6: 1-13; Psalm 138; I Corinthians 15: 1-11; Luke 5: 1-11 The theme to be found in all four of our readings this morning is God inviting, God, looking for partners, to join in the continuing care of creation. I think seeking partners is a “God thing” – going back to Genesis…
Paul’s Letter to Timothy The Second Letter of Paul to Timothy is the most intimate and personal of the epistles attributed to Paul. It is addressed to a young man who had been a companion to Paul on many of his missionary journeys. Like Paul, Timothy was a Jew who had a Greek or…
Readings – Jeremiah 1: 4-10; Psalm 71: 1-6; I Corinthians 13: 1-13; Luke 4: 21-30 Last Sunday we heard the beginning of this story. Jesus, following his baptism, went into the wilderness to ponder how to live God’s declaration that he was the long-awaited Beloved of God who would: bring good news to the poor,…
Readings – Nehemiah 8: 1-3, 5-6, 8-10; Psalm 19; I Corinthians 12: 12-31a; Luke 4: 14-21 Today let’s begin with Jesus, always a good place to start. Just prior to our reading from the Gospel according to St. Luke, God claimed him. God declared, “You are my Son, you are my beloved”. Blown away by…
Readings: Isaiah 62:1-5; Psalm 36:5-10; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11; John 2:1-11 My wife Anna has inherited a quirk from her mother and her grandmother. All three of these women are people who pray for parking spaces: “Lord, please give us a parking space.” Just like that as they’re driving through the parking lot. Anna’s grandmother, who’s…
Readings – Isaiah 43: 1-7; Psalm 29; Acts 8: 14-17; Luke 3: 1-17, 21-22 We are still decorated for the Nativity, for the birth of Jesus. Last week we celebrated the revealing of the Christ-child to the world as the Wise Men from afar arrived for a brief visit. And today we jump, scholars tell…
Readings – Isaiah 9: 2-7; Psalm 96; Titus 2: 11-14; Luke 2: 1-20 A reading from the Gospel according to St. Luke — …on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but…