One in Christ We learn from a very early age that people are different.  And the older we get, the more we learn this.  Men and women are different.  Introverts and extroverts are different.  People come in all shapes and sizes, ethnic and cultural backgrounds.  We come from different nations and have different political views.  Along almost any axis or point of comparison, you can find people who fall on either side of the fence, into either camp or category.  And you see this also in Holy Scripture. Now these differences aren’t always bad, and some ..read more

Last week we heard what the people of Nazareth thought of Jesus. They were astonished and amazed by him, but not in a good way. They rejected him, to Jesus' own amazement. Now Mark tells us what King Herod thinks about Jesus. This is the Herod Antipas, who is the son of Herod the Great – and it was Herod the Great who tried to kill Jesus when he slaughtered the children of Bethlehem. It was also the same Herod here, Antipas, who was in Jerusalem and before whom Jesus stood on trial. So the mention of the Herod name gets us thinking both backward and forward in the New Testament witness. Hero ..read more

What amazes you?  Is it something that is unexpected, overwhelming, or fills you with awe?  A strong emotion?  A powerful experience?  A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that catches you up in the moment?  The birth of a child, or a visit to Niagra Falls? A meal that is amazing – that is just prepared so well and tastes so good.  An awesome 4th of July fireworks display? The exhilaration of a test drive in a race car at the Texas motor speedway?  I suppose we use the word “amazing” in lots of different ways. Our gospel reading uses the word “amazing” twice, a ..read more

They say there is no greater heartache than the loss of a child.  I know some of you know this pain.  There is something deeply dis-ordered and nonsensical to us when a young person dies before their time, before even reaching adulthood, or before their own parents.  Death is never a welcome friend, but if someone has lived a good long life, and is now leaving behind pain and trouble, we can sometimes see death as bittersweet.  But when a young person has their whole life ahead of them, and that life is cut short, it seems even more unfair, even more tragic, even more a c ..read more

Often the Gospels show us the parables of Jesus.  Stories that Jesus tells to make a point.  They are fictitious, or at least, they are made up to make a point, usually about how things are in the kingdom of God. But then we have the miracles and works of Jesus.  These really happened.  They are not made up earthly stories with a heavenly meaning.  They are true stories from the life of Jesus.  And yet they also bring us a heavenly meaning, or application.  As we get to know our Lord Jesus better, and see who he is and what he does for those people, we learn ..read more

  Most of us, if we are honest, would admit that we are just sort of fumbling through life.  We do our best to keep up appearances.  That we have our act together.  That we are in control of our lives.  That we are decent and reliable and competent.  But the truth is we’re nowhere near as together as we project to other people.  If they knew our inner thoughts and struggles, we’d probably all be quite embarrassed. One expression of this is what some people call, “impostor syndrome.”  That’s when you are hired for a certain job, or fill a certain role, a ..read more

Lunatic, Liar, or Lord? One of the chief questions the Gospels address, and which Christians (and, really, all people) must answer is:  Who is Jesus? And depending on how one answers that question, we can either find today’s Gospel reading terrifying or comforting.  We can either see in it the promise of forgiveness, and victory over our great enemy… or else we find ourselves outside of forgiveness, and forever captive to the evil one. Jesus’ brothers and his own mother were there saying he was a lunatic.  He’s out of his mind.  He should be home acting respectable, takin ..read more

  The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath This is the concluding summary, the main point Jesus makes in our Gospel reading today.  He, himself, is Lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath Day, of course, is the day of rest.  God set the pattern, after 6 days of doing all the work of creation, he rested on the 7th.  He thus set aside the Sabbath Day as holy, and later in the Mosaic law, clearly taught the people that this day is to be kept holy also by them as a day of rest.  We all know it as the 3rd Commandment. But leave it to man to take a good gift of God and get it all f ..read more

  Holy Trinity Sunday One of the nifty little neo-logisms we hear these days is “man-splaining”.  When someone, especially a man, explains something in a condescending way, especially to a woman.  A related term is “over-explaining”.  In our impatient world of fast-moving information, we don’t have time to sit through a long explanation of something we already know, so we skip to the end, or speed up the video, or ask for the “too long, didn’t read” version. And while we probably all could be well-served by more patience, especially when it comes to the important teachings ..read more

  Can these bones live? What a question!  Surely not. It would be different if whatever battle had happened here was just finished.  Then you could go through and look for survivors.  You’d maybe hear a faint groaning here or there, and be able to give someone aid, nurse them back to health.  Maybe find some wounded and help them get on their feet, and off to the hospital. Maybe it would be like that line from the Princess Bride, “He’s only mostly dead!” But not here.  Not in this valley of dry bones.  It’s been a while.  The bodies have decayed.  ..read more