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Mark 11:1-11 depicts Jesus as a long-awaited king. It does this in both obvious and subtle ways, and with a heavy dose of tension and irony. It helps to recall that, for Mark, the very (...)

Some preachers avoid the e-word while others do not, yet we are all evangelists. We all long to proclaim Jesus in the most appealing terms possible. Few messages appeal more than the inclusive Jesus, the (...)

In Texas where I grew up we didn’t bother much with winter. The year’s seasons were early summer, hot summer, and late summer. Adapting to a northerly climate where winter gets its due—a full six (...)

The Passover story in Exodus 12 is a story of a new beginning.  Of course there are other beginnings in the Bible such as creation (Genesis 1), new life after the flood (Genesis 8), or (...)

“I am a servant.” – Larry Norman, 1976 This lectionary reading for Palm Sunday is the third of four servant songs in Second Isaiah (see also Isaiah 42:1-9; 49:1-6; 52:13-53:12), explicitly identified as Israel in (...)

As we near Holy Week, we arrive in Jerusalem with Jesus in the Gospel of John.  Jesus enters to much fanfare, with calls of “Hosanna” from Psalm 118 and a re-enactment of Zechariah 9:9 marking (...)

Reality bites.1 The book of Numbers from the Hebrew Bible is not well-represented in the lectionary; only three different texts (Numbers 6, 11, and 21) are included. Our text this morning could be preached in (...)

The fact of human difference may no longer surprise us.1 What may surprise us in this passage is that the author stops to thank God for the foresight and grace to plan this messy human (...)

In the popular imagination, Advent is often depicted as the slow liturgical crescendo leading up to Christmas day. Each day of the advent calendar presents waiting children with something sweet and delightful. In designing worship (...)

Christmas may be one of the most difficult days on which to preach during the entire liturgical year. It is not that the texts are themselves complicated; it is that everyone has heard the Lukan (...)