Pietro del Po (Italian, 17th Cent.) Now the woman was a gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” (Mark 7:26-28) I love Starbucks. Seriously. Sometimes I just like to sit in my favorite Starbucks, savor a grande dark roast, pair it with some pastry, and read a chapter or two of an Agatha Christie novel. It’s pure heaven. I’m n ..read more

  “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.” (John 6:56) Saint John the Evangelist is doing it to us again. I think he must’ve had a great sense of humor. Either that, or he knew Jesus had one. So often in John’s gospel we get people talking at cross purposes like that old Abbott and Costello “Who’s on First” routine[i]. In the gospel lesson for Pentecost 14 (John 6: 56-69—mercifully the last of our “Bread of Life” readings) people are really getting their shorts in a bunch over Jesus’ statement about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. You have to admi ..read more

  “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:51) Once upon a very long time ago I had occasion to visit the great state of Nevada with some friends. As happens when one visits the great state of Nevada, we found ourselves one evening inside a casino. Let me just say for the record that the Lutheran Church, as a general rule, has been death on gambling, so I’m not recommending this as a hobby. People lose their money, their families, and chunks of their sou ..read more

  “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Since I started my full-time preaching career in the summer of 1997, I’ve had to endure nine summers when the Revised Common Lectionary sticks us with four consecutive Sundays in which the gospel lesson focuses on Jesus as the bread of life. Come to think of it, it’s actually five Sundays because the Sunday lesson which precedes all that bread is the story of the feeding of the 5,000. That’s a lot of bread. I mean, come on! Just how much can you say about bread? Over ..read more

  One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” (John 6:9) Do we ever really think about what God is capable of doing? The Gospel lesson assigned for Pentecost 10, Year B (John 6: 1-21) tells the tale of whole bunch of hungry folks who’ve come to hear what Jesus has to say. At dinner time Jesus throws a question to his buddy, Philip: Where are you going to buy food for this crowd? You’ll notice he doesn’t ask Phil if he should feed this horde. He asks him how he pla ..read more

  Carl Block (Danish, 19th Century) As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. (Mark 6:34) What is it with the Gospel writers and this sheep and shepherd thing? I guess this was their prime metaphor for leaders and followers. Jeremiah, in the First Lesson assigned for Pentecost 9 in the Revised Common Lectionary (Jeremiah 23:1-6) warns—and rightly so as it turns out—that bad “shepherding” will have dire consequences for the sheep. After all, if you hire some boz ..read more

 I’m on vacation this week, so I don’t have to write a sermon on the death of John the Baptist, the assigned reading from Mark’s Gospel in the Revised Common Lectionary (Mark 6:14-29). Nevertheless, I attended my conference pericope study this week because I enjoy hanging out with my clergy colleague and because my Dean of Conference—who is an excellent baker—promised he’d serve us the remnants of the scrumptious lemon-blueberry birthday cake he cooked for his husband. I have to say I was not disappointed by either the collegial discussion or the birthday cake. The story of John’s ma ..read more

“…for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10b) Happy Independence Day weekend to all my readers here in the good ‘ol USA! I hope you enjoyed your July 4th and celebrated this great nation of ours. Yes, things are a bit unsteady just at present with a presidential election ramping up. We have one candidate who says he’ll make America great again. The other guy says we never stopped being great and are, in fact, the greatest nation in all of history. It’s pretty appropriate, I think, that the lessons assigned for Pentecost 7 in the Revised Common Lectionary touch a bit on ..read more

  Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” (Mark 5:30) Sometimes you just have to make time for things. In the Gospel lesson appointed in the RCL for Pentecost 6, Year B (Mark 5:21-43), Jesus is on his way to do an act of mercy for a pretty important guy when he gets detoured by a very timid lady. She needs a healing but she’s too afraid to ask for one. Mark tells us that this poor gal had suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years, had bankrupted herself on doctors’ bills, and was only getting worse. There ..read more

  "Storm on the Sea of Galilee" Delacroix, Fr. 19th Cent. Captain Jimmy was looking over the bow of our little thirty-foot sailboat at the choppy waves on the windward side of Anacapa Island. The sky, which had been sunny and cheerfully blue all morning, had suddenly turned a dismal grey and the wind was picking up. As an inexperienced sailor, I wasn’t at all comfortable with the looks of the wind and water, and I couldn’t help but think of the situation Jesus and his disciples were in that’s described in the Gospel Lesson for Pentecost 5, (Mark 4: 35-41). Our mainsail was still ..read more