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Welcome back to the Gospel according to Mark, Working Preachers. When the lectionary reinserts us into Mark’s rapid narrative at the end of Chapter 3, we’re quickly reminded that if Jesus’ main purpose in life (...)

Where I live, it’s time to plant summer vegetables. The fig trees, eager to awaken early, have already unfurled their leaves. Dozens of artichoke, pepper, eggplant, and tomato seedlings have been growing inside since March, (...)

While the beautiful sequence of stories in Mark 5:21-43 constitutes the Gospel for today, this reading from 2 Corinthians on the faithful use of money is very pertinent and timely for North Americans. Even if (...)

In an intriguing vignette that forms part of the creation narratives in Genesis 1-3, one reads how God is walking in the garden “at the time of the evening breeze” (Genesis 3:8).  This side remark (...)

This week’s texts are all about love. But preaching about love can be extremely challenging in an American context. For starters, the English language is overflowing with different understandings of the term. The following examples (...)

At least once every year I come across a sermon boldly declaring: “Protestants believe that we are saved solely by a profession of faith and that works do not matter, whereas Catholics (like the Jews (...)

In Acts, Luke tells the story of the expansion of the church. In Acts 2, the church converts thousands of Jerusalem-based, multi-ethnic Jews (Acts 2:7-11, 40). In Acts 6, the leadership expands to include Hellenistic (...)

Many of us can only hear the first line of the Psalm in the King James Version (KJV): “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”1 With a simple metaphor in a concise and (...)

Conflict arises in Acts for the first time in this passage.  It’s a story that follows immediately on the heels of last Sunday’s reading, in which Peter, with John at his side, preaches a sermon (...)

Psalm 22 is a prayer of complaint that, perhaps more than any psalm, serves as a link between the Old Testament and the story of Jesus’ passion.1 Indeed, this psalm is an appropriate lectionary reading (...)