I have a pastor friend who tells a story about leading a Bible study focused on what he called “the hard teachings of Jesus”. His group was discussing the story of the rich young ruler in Luke 18, who came asking Jesus about how to inherit eternal life. As we pastors tend to do, he was trying to … Read the rest
Continue reading "Power & Practice" »
I can’t quite escape the irony of ascending this pulpit, when we’ve just heard about Jesus coming down from the mountain to teach. Luke’s version of the beatitudes parallel Matthew’s account of the sermon on the mount, but here his teaching is delivered on a plain. On the level ground, where you might say that the mountain and … Read the rest
Continue reading "Leveling on the Plain" »
On Thursday I posted a complaint on social media that I was late in preparing my sermon. When I’m preaching I try really hard to be ready before my husband John comes home from San Francisco, because I like to save weekends for him. But this wasn’t that kind of week—everything seemed to take more time … Read the rest
Continue reading "Eye to Eye" »In these final painful days of our electoral season, when saintliness seems remote from the public sphere, the familiar words of what’s popularly known as the Golden Rule: “do to others as you would have them do to you” seem to take on a special urgency. Mostly because they are the words of our Lord, whose teaching I … Read the rest
Continue reading "Subjunctive Saints" »