Biblical Text: Romans 3:19-28, John 8:31-36 What exactly is Reformation Day? It has been a lot of things. This sermon mentions a couple of them. But almost of of the alternates are corruptions of what

Biblical Text: Mark 10:46-52 The text is the capstone both to Mark 10, which is the toughest chapter in the gospels, and the ministry of Jesus. The rest of the gospel of Mark is passion week which rea

Biblical Text: Mark 10:23-31 The text contains a couple of Jesus’ classic aphorisms, but this sermon really isn’t about those aphorisms. Those aphorisms are given to heighten the shock that the discip

Biblical Text: Mark 10:17-22 You become what you love. We either love God, and with loving God love the truth and love our neighbor; or we have something else we love. And whatever else that something

Biblical Text: Mark 10:2-16 There are lots of biblical texts about human sexuality. There are also lots of texts about freedom. This text has more to say about both and their intersection than any of

Biblical Text: Mark 9:38-50 The text for the day feels like one of those collections of aphorisms. The sermon attempts to place them within the larger gospel narrative. But then spends the majority of

Biblical Text: Mark 9:30-37 The text is probably a familiar one, at least it contains a couple of Jesus’ aphorisms that still have public purchase. “The one who wants to be first must be the servant o

Biblical Text: Mark 9:14-29 The Gospel text assigned for today is the second half of a pair that occurs in all the Synoptic Gospels (Matt, Mark and Luke). The first part is the transfiguration, when P

Biblical Text: Mark 7:31-37 Sometimes the smallest thing in the text can inspire a thought. Here it is the travel notice -“He returned from the region of Tyre through Sidon…”. Jesus goes north to retu

Biblical Text: Mark 7:14-23, Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9 Both of these texts are holding up the law. Moses encouraging Israel about to cross the Jordan to remember it, to keep and do it. And the Jesus desc