Proper 18 (23)
Where Two or Three Are Gathered
On a verse we quote to excuse a thin crowd, and the church conflict it was actually about.
Matthew 18:20
From the Chair
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Proper 17 (22)
Turning Aside
On Moses and the sheep, the numbing routine of the work, and how many burning bushes we walk straight past.
Exodus 3:3
Proper 16 (21)
Shiphrah and Puah
On midwives who turned the oppressor's own contempt into a tool of resistance — and whether we are willing to learn how.
Exodus 1:19
Proper 15 (20)
What Came Out of His Mouth
On the hardest thing to say about this text — that our savior insults a foreigner, and is redeemed by her faith.
Matthew 15:26
Proper 14 (19)
Ego Eimi
On translating when nobody asked you to, and finding 'I am' in the middle of the storm.
Matthew 14:27
Proper 13 (18)
Say Your Name
On a grabby, conniving scoundrel forced to say his own name out loud — and a God who still will not let go.
Genesis 32:27
Proper 12 (17)
A Kingdom You Cannot Own
On buried treasure, invasive weeds, and a kingdom that arrives whether or not we are ready for it.
Matthew 13:44
Proper 11 (16)
Surely the Lord Is in This Place
On Jacob's rock pillow, a parishioner in the emergency room, and why we are still surprised when God shows up.
Genesis 28:16
Proper 10 (15)
Who Moves the Rocks
On the parable of the sower — who tends the soil of our lives, and whose rocks we still cling to because familiar feels safer than free.
Matthew 13:3
Proper 9 (14)
The Church Doesn't Need Super Pastors
On the exhausting pull toward doing it all, being it all, and giving it all — and why faithfulness isn't the same thing as pleasing everyone.
Matthew 11:18-19
Proper 8 (13)
The Wounds That Remain
On Genesis 22, the silence between Abraham and Isaac afterward, and what it means for the church to tell the truth about the harm it has caused.
Genesis 22:2
Proper 7 (12)
Acknowledging Jesus in Strangers
On a free medical clinic, an eight-question community mapping tool, and the daily chance to recognize Christ in people you've just met.
Matthew 10:32-33
Proper 6 (11)
Take No Bag for the Journey
On evangelism with empty hands, elaborate travel plans, and a Holy Spirit with a well-documented sense of humor.
Matthew 10:9-10
Proper 5 (10)
The Company Jesus Keeps
On sin and sickness as forms of separation, and a physician determined to cross every barrier we build.
Matthew 9:12
Trinity Sunday
Not Fully Myself Without You
On skipping the doctrinal sermon and asking instead what it means that none of us carries the image of God alone.
Genesis 1:26
Day of Pentecost
That Pesky Holy Spirit
On a Spirit who is not a labor-saving device, tiny Pentecosts, and sparks that refuse to stay inside the plan.
Acts 2:9-11
Seventh Sunday of Easter
Never Quite Prepared
On years of having seen some things, a Spirit entirely beyond our control, and how little any of it prepares us.
Acts 1:8
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Functional Atheism
On leading as though everything depends on you, and a promise that you will not be left orphaned.
John 14:18
Fifth Sunday of Easter
How Can We Know the Way
On Thomas the practical and the needy — snarky, sarcastic, and brave enough to ask for what he needed when he needed it.
John 14:5
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Seventy Years of Full Clergy Rights
A guest letter marking the 1956 decision that opened ordination to women — and a call to male colleagues to say so out loud.
Galatians 3:28
Third Sunday of Easter
Three Thousand in a Day
On Acts as a window rather than a blueprint, and the honest question of whether you are carrying more than you were meant to carry alone.
Acts 2:41
Second Sunday of Easter
What Thomas Touched
On whether they were scars or still open wounds — and a resurrection that transforms suffering without erasing it.
John 20:27
Resurrection of the Lord
Dew Still on the Roses
On arriving at the garden exhausted, being called by name, and the gift of an Easter afternoon nap.
John 20:1
Liturgy of the Passion
What Jesus Saw from the Donkey
On the faces along the parade route, and a shout of Hosanna already shadowed by another cry.
Matthew 21:9
Fifth Sunday in Lent
Preaching to Dry Bones
On a drought, a river that stopped running, and the foolishness of speaking life to what is obviously dead.
Ezekiel 37:4
Fourth Sunday in Lent
The Brothers Nobody Names
On Eliab, the island of misfit toys, and everyone who has been passed over and left unnamed.
1 Samuel 16:7
Third Sunday in Lent
She Is Not One Thing
On the woman at the well, the sins we assume she committed, and a gospel that refuses to flatten anyone into a single story.
John 4:17
Second Sunday in Lent
Songs for the Uphill Road
On camp songs, pilgrim psalms, and who keeps us in a wilderness that has no keeper but God.
Psalm 121:1
First Sunday in Lent
Who Told You
On fig leaves, the shame that enters and stays, and a God who co-suffers rather than standing apart from our wounds.
Genesis 3:7
Transfiguration Sunday
Forty Days Means a Long Time
On Torah as gift rather than law, and a transformation that takes a lifetime instead of a moment.
Exodus 24:18
Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
The Only Power That Bends
On turning fifty without having learned how to do life, and choosing love when power would be so much easier.
1 Corinthians 2:1
Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
Rebellions of Mercy
On Micah's accusation against the deeply religious and deeply unjust — and why ordinary faithfulness has become an act of rebellion.
Micah 6:8
Third Sunday after the Epiphany
The Giants of the Pulpit
On preaching where giants preached, and a God who works through small, bumbling people.
Matthew 4:18
Second Sunday after the Epiphany
Come and See
On revelation that arrives by the drip rather than the gallon, and the slow faithfulness of abiding together.
John 1:39
Baptism of the Lord
The Bruised Reed
On a servant who won't snap what is already bent — and the baptismal vows that make that work ours.
Isaiah 42:1
Epiphany of the Lord
Home by Another Way
On a song, the magi's detour, and a Spirit who still finds paths around what looks impenetrable.
Matthew 2:12
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