Sometimes I wonder about the folks who put our lectionary (the 3-year series of appointed readings that we use in worship) together, and what they were thinking when they decided what to include and what to cut, where to start and where to end our readings from week to week. It must have been a […]

[Click here for video] In a letter written to his dear friend, Eberhard Berthge, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, writing from his Nazi prison cell, says: God is the beyond in the midst of our lives. (Letters and Papers from Prison. April 30, 1944)   The beyond in the midst of our lives is an intriguing way to […]

[Click here for video] Our Gospel today picks up right where we left off last week. As Jesus and his disciples are heading out of the Temple, the disciples begin to marvel at the size of the buildings and the majesty of the whole thing. Now, remember, Jesus has just taught them about the abuse […]

[Click here for video] Today we find ourselves confronted with two stories of widows, two examples of apparent human failure to care for the most vulnerable in our midst, and while I wish I could say that we, as human beings, have grown in our capacity to care for our most vulnerable, and there are […]

[click here for video] In a book called “The Mission Table: Renewing Congregation and Community” (Augsburg Fortress, 2013), former Metro NY Synod Bishop, Stephen Bouman, tells a story about a funeral. He was presiding graveside for a Korean Lutheran family and when the service was over people started heading to their cars, and he assumed […]