The Blessing Path

Epiphany – Year A – Matthew 5:1-12 A friend of mine says this gospel passage is simply how Jesus defines sanity, how to keep our heads on straight when the world makes our minds spin. The culture that holds sway over us says we should want to “make it big.” We should want to be […]

Do It for Love

For Sunday, January 8, 2017 – Matthew 3:13-17 – Matthew 3:13-17 Such a simple act marks the moment when heaven and earth are joined as one. Jesus goes to John, his childhood friend, one might presume, the son of Mary’s cousin, and asks him to baptize him. Jesus wants to be not a sightseer on […]

God With Us in Suffering

For Sunday, December 25, 2016 – Luke 2:(1-7), 8-20 We have a quandary. We want a happy Christmas—a lovely, soft-lights time of giving and receiving love—but in the mix for most of us is a sticky glob of suffering. Our hearts are weighted by people we hear about in the news, our friends and family, […]

Direct and to the Point

For Sunday, December 18, 2016 – Matthew 1:18-25 Don’t you appreciate people who get right to the point without embellishment or meandering down countless trails? When they tell a story, they tell it in the most direct way possible. When they preach, they use fancy language only as seasoning, not substance, avoiding sentences like, “The […]