Zacchaeus is not a happy man. In fact, he might describe himself as miserable. He has great wealth, but has learned the hard way that riches do not guarantee joy. He supposes that wealth often brings with it isolation, but most of...
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” These words we hear today in our epistle reading are written by the Apostle Paul from a prison cell in Rome to his friend and protégée...
Many years ago, when I was newly ordained, I taught an adult Sunday School class called “Saints and Sinners.” The class took a look at those we typically think of as Biblical heroes of faith – people like Abraham, Moses, David, Peter, and Paul...
It was not the word from the Lord that the Israelites were hoping or expecting to hear. God is addressing the survivors of the Babylonian invasion of Israel, almost 600 years before the birth of Christ. Those...
The story we hear today from Luke’s gospel is one of Jesus’ most vivid and harsh parables. There’s the poor man, Lazarus, covered with sores, sitting outside the gates of the rich man’s home. He’s so...
You know it is going to be an interesting week of sermon preparation when you read the day’s Gospel text, scratch your head and say “Huh?”; then go to a commentary for illumination and find it begins with this sentence: “The parable of the unjust steward has baffled...
We all remember where we were and what we were doing that day. I was getting ready for work, about to scoop up 4-month-old Joseph Henry from the bed and leave when I heard the news bulletin – a plane had hit the World Trade Center....
It is one of the most basic tenets of scripture in both the Old and New Testaments — hospitality to the stranger. Abraham and Sarah are the first in scripture to model it. Abraham is sitting at the entrance to his tent when...
