Last Sunday we heard Jesus telling us that he’s come, not to bring peace, but division, and I suggested in my sermon that this shocking proclamation from the One we know as the Prince of Peace, should be understood as descriptive, rather than prescriptive – that Jesus was warning us that, for those who follow […]

Oh my, it’s been one of those weeks! Hugely significant things have been happening in our culture and society that have sent ripples into so many lives.   Now, I’m not going to get into the politics of the Kavanaugh hearings, though I will simply note that many of his established beliefs and judicial stances […]

Picture the scene. Feel the desperation.   Jairus is a man accustomed to having things his way, I’m sure – A man of status, and privilege, and cultural and religious power, but when he’s faced with the prospect of impending death, he knows he is powerless. Worse yet, it’s not even his own death, but […]

Read 1 Kings 19:9-18, Psalm 85:8-13, Romans 10:5-15, Matthew 14:22-33   We are all born with the animal instinct of fight or flight. When threatened, we instinctively move into one posture or the other. I wonder how often that choice is based on past experience. If we have fought, and that worked out well, are […]

If you go to NJSynod.org and search for Core Values, you’ll find 6 core values listed there. They are: Faithfulness Respect Diversity Generosity Change And interdependence As I thought about today’s Gospel reading – about Jesus saying he’s come to bring, not peace, but division to the earth, I found myself questioning, as I’m pretty […]

There are folks in the world who struggle with the image of God as Father, in part because their own earthly father was not of a type that would be easily transferrable to the image of our loving God. Martin Luther himself had exactly this issue, in fact. Luther’s father, it is said, was so […]

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”   I’m willing to bet that this isn’t the first time anyone here has heard this story. And that’s both good and bad. Good, because it’s part of our shared ethos as a congregation, as God’s people, but bad, perhaps, because we […]

Who do you think the world would be better off without? It’s a tough question, isn’t it, if we’re really going to be honest? Though, it doesn’t seem too tough of a question for James and John.   Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem – a strange phrase that Luke uses here that seems […]

At the time we gathered last week, many of us had heard that there had been a shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, but the details about who the shooter was, and why he was there, and who he targeted were, for the most part, unknown.   But we know now.   We’ve spent another […]