Lectionary blog for Oct. 8 Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80:7-15; Philippians 3:4b-14; Matthew 21:33-46 In Isaiah, God says, “I cleared the land, I planted the grapes, I…
In part three, we noted three of the five women listed in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus—Tamar, Rahab and Ruth. We’ll now consider Jesus’ interaction with the Canaanite woman in Matthew…
Lectionary blog for Oct. 1 Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32; Psalm 25:1-9; Philippians 25:19; Matthew 21:23-32 Sometimes, some people, particularly some people on some finance committees or congregation…
As is often noted, there are five women mentioned (if not all by name—sorry, Bathsheba) in the Matthew genealogy of Jesus: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba and Mary. I want to…
In part one, we explored how the four kinds of earth mentioned in the parable of the sower—rocky soil, thorny soil, the path and good soil—are created as a response…
Lectionary blog for Sept. 17 Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost Genesis 50:15-21; Psalm 103:(1-7), 8-13; Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 18:21-35 A few years ago, I heard about an article in the Oakland…
We all come from different places. When we read the Bible, we use our own contexts to imagine the scenes in our heads. This can be helpful for personalizing the…
Lectionary blog for Sept. 10 Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost Ezekiel 33:7-11; Psalm 119:33-40; Romans 13:8-14; Matthew 18:15-20 This text is about learning to love people, even when they don’t particularly…
Lectionary blog for Aug. 6 Ninth Sunday after Pentecost Isaiah 55:1-5; Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21 The first line of our Gospel lesson is “when Jesus heard this.” “This”…
The book of Jonah takes up exactly two pages in my Bible. But as with many parts of God’s word, just a little bit can alter the course of a…
Lectionary blog for July 23 Seventh Sunday after Pentecost Isaiah 44:6-8, Psalm 86:11-17, Romans 8:12-25; Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 My late father-in-law liked to tell the story of a man who…
When 43 midwives graduated from a three-year midwifery training program in Liberia on May 20, a 44th person was honored: the late Deanna Isaacson, an ELCA missionary from 1966 to…
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