Take Heart

For Sunday, August 10, 2014 – Matthew 14:22-33 Down the trail of years, we hear him still, Jesus calling again and again, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” Whatever the circumstance of our own dark nights, however the waves of chaos threaten to drown us—overwhelming us with bitterness or remorse, disappointment or hate, addiction or isolation—whatever […]

Broken Pieces

For Sunday, August 3, 2014 – Matthew 14:13-21 “… and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full.” After the miracle of compassionate multiplication, after everyone has had their fill, twelve baskets of broken pieces remain. (For the twelve tribes of Israel, perhaps, a complete set of disciples, the […]

Small and Mighty

For Sunday, July 27, 2014 – Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 God’s reality is like . . . a tiny seed, yeast hidden in flour, treasure buried and found again, a pearl nesting deep within the sea. Barely noticed, yet potent and life-changing. Each of us has brief encounters, whispers in the night, seeds of ‘something more’ […]

Seeds and Weeds

For Sunday, July 20, 2014 – Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 “God has planted good seed in the world, children,” my Sunday School teacher would say. “But an enemy has planted weeds. Keep yourself separate from the weeds!” Even then I knew this would be difficult. Out in the pastures and woods on our farm grew so […]