Weekly Reflection (Page 3)

March 10, 2022 As we begin this Lenten season with the story of Jesus in the wilderness after his baptism (Luke 4:1-13), it isn’t lost on me that we’re also hitting the two-year mark since COVID-19 was officially announced a pandemic and the world turned. In some ways, it feels like these last two years have been one long Lenten season, one long set of months…

March 3, 2022 Jesus went up the mountain with three of his disciples to pray. As he prays he is transformed, his outer appearance changes, it is transfigured as he shines with the very glory of God. This change in outward appearance reveals the truth of Jesus’ identity as God’s beloved and chosen son. The Son shines like the Sun that we might see the ways…

February 24, 2022 It is not lost on me that in the week where we heard so directly about forgiveness and mercy and looking to our neighbor with love and compassion, the world is reeling from violence as Russia conducts a military operation in Ukraine. Last Sunday, I quoted author and pastor Rob Bell, “Forgiveness is setting someone free, and then realizing…

February 17, 2022We’re familiar with the beatitudes, we know the powerful words of blessing Jesus speaks to those all-too-often pushed to the margins and excluded. Most of the time when we remember them, we think of the setting from Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount. In Luke’s account of these words of blessing, Jesus is in a level place. The level place has…

February 10, 2022 The first disciples have yet to be called, and with the crowds are gathered to listen to what the Word of God is teaching, calling, and empowering them as Jesus – the Word made flesh – proclaims the good news and teaches the crowds.  In listening to Christ, Simon (Peter) and James and John, these three fishermen, hear a call to follow…

February 3, 2022 As I woke up to ice and freezing rain this morning and checked to see if the faucets were still dripping, ground some coffee beans and sat down to wait for it to brew, I took a few quiet moments to notice what I was feeling and thinking. I felt the tension in my shoulders and jaw and the chill in my body that seemed a bit deeper than the last few cold…

January 27, 2022 In Sunday’s gospel reading, Luke 4:14-21, Jesus proclaims a sermon in his hometown synagogue, reading from the prophet Isaiah and outlining the mission Jesus has been given by God that he will live out in word and deed throughout the rest of his ministry.  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good…

January 20, 2022 In Sunday’s gospel reading, John 2:1-12, Jesus performs his first sign, revealing the glory of God by extending the joyful celebration of the wedding in Cana, pointing to God’s presence with the people. We know what it’s like to be out of something we used to have. So many of us are at our wit’s end, running empty in the midst…

January 13, 2022 “His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” (Luke 3:17) If your mind works anything like mine, when you hear these words from John the Baptist about Jesus, the Messiah, from last Sunday’s gospel reading (Luke 3:15-17,…

January 6, 2022 A blessed new year to you on this day where we celebrate the visit of the magi to the Christ child.  These wise ones dared to follow the signs revealed to them – the glory of the star, the messages of prophecy from scriptures they were not so well versed in, the king of kings and lord of lords present in an infant. The words of our Christmas Eve…