December 10, 2023 Isaiah 40:1-11; Mark 1:1-8 When I was a young boy, I attended the local parochial school in my home town. And while I was there, the nuns taught us how to say grace. Now I was 6 years old at the time, so this had to be a simple prayer, one not terribly difficult to memorize. I still remember…

December 3, 2023 Isaiah 64:1-9; Mark 13:24-37 Therefore, keep awake–for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake. Wake up! Wake up. We…

November 26, 2023 Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; Matthew 25:31-46 [F]or I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ This reading…

November 19, 2023 Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18; Matthew 25:14-30 You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. This is the Parable of the Talents. It has been…

November 12, 2023 Amos 5:18-24; Matthew 25:1-13 Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. The kingdom of heaven seems to have an entrance exam. One that will assess whether one is foolish or wise. Well, what does it mean to be foolish? The term used here is the Greek…

November 5, 2023 Revelation 7:9-17; Matthew 5:1-12 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The Sermon on the Mount is a quintessential moment in the ministry of Jesus. There are many other passages from the Bible that spell out his teachings, but this sermon sums up with great succinctness what Jesus was trying to convey. The…

October 29, 2023 Leviticus 19:1-2, 15; Matthew 22:34-46 He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and…

October 15, 2023 Exodus 32:1-14; Matthew 22:1-14 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become…

October 8, 2023 Isaiah 5:1-7; Matthew 21:33-46 “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’” Jesus was confronting the leaders of the Temple. He was doing so through this very pointed story about the master and his tenants. Who are the…

October 1, 2023 Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32; Matthew 21:23-32 O house of Israel, are my ways unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair? Ezekiel is sharing the visions that he had from God. And one of the complaints of God against the people was about their idolatrous ways. They allowed other gods to be worshipped on the high places. They perhaps…