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After a few weeks ‘off’ talking about Jesus’ parables, today we return to regularly scheduled Sunday programming reflecting on the lectionary readings. But today’s Gospel reading acts as a nice bridge, since it connects to the conflicts and themes that instigated Jesus’ parables of grace in Luke 14 and following. It’s a story about the … Continue reading The Spirit of Control Versus the Spirit of Freedom: A Reflection on Luke 13.10-17

As Jesus famously said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will also be” (Matthew 6.21). In other words, we will all follow the thing that is really the most important to us. We all have the hill we’ll die on, the bridge we’d rather burn than cross. We are generally happy to live and … Continue reading A God of Freedom: A Reflection on Acts 16.16-34

Sometimes I feel like a broken record here. But to my defense, Jesus’ teachings are for the most part pretty straight forward and variations on a few themes. We’re just not very good at embodying them. But, at the risk of repeating myself, one of the strangest and most frightening trends in contemporary Christianity is … Continue reading A Gift of Peace: A Reflection on John 14:23-29

The other week, we peaked behind the apocalyptic veil of the Book of Revelation and saw how the anticipated Lion of Judah was in fact ‘the Lamb-Who-Was-Slain’, who alone was able unseal the heavenly scroll. In less symbolic language, it was saying that it was the nonviolent offering up his own life is what made … Continue reading Limitless: A Reflection on Revelation 21.1-6