Listen Up! Michael Dowling was 14 years old when he got caught in a Minnesota blizzard in the winter of 1880. He toppled from the back of a lumber wagon during the storm, stumbled through the snow for hours, and finally sought refuge for the night in a haystack. Come morning his legs and hands […]
An Unhappy Ending If you like happy endings, then I suggest that you skip over today’s Gospel lesson. If you prefer the parables that end with grace, then file this one under “Awaiting Further Light”. Go back and read again the Parable of the Eleventh Hour worker, where God acts like God, and over treats […]
The True Meaning of Freedom Today’s Gospel is a familiar one. “The truth will set you free’ “is a quote that is used repeatedly. Yet, if you ask 3 people what it means, you might well get three different answers. What is more, those three people might not even know where the quote originated or […]
The Killer Instinct Of all the creatures in creation the shark is near the top of the list when it comes to the killer instinct. And that creates anxiety – even in little children. It might seem a little far-fetched to begin this homily, on our Lord’s Parable of the Landowner and His Vineyard, with […]
Love’s Final Words Today we have a sequel to last week’s text from Matthew. And this week we hear about forgiveness. So, let me emphasize that the word “forgiveness” means to send off, to hurl away, to let go, or to leave behind, whatever it is that keeps us bound. This morning I share with […]
This Is God’s Well! Our Gospel text for this morning is one of the most difficult in all of Matthew’s Gospel. It speaks to us of things we would rather not hear – and of things we would rather not do. It speaks to us about relationships and about the need to let go […]
The Clearest Picture Jesus, a man who was never a slave to public opinion, but he was interested in it. He wanted to Know what people thought about him and I am sure that his interest was more than a matter of curiosity. Perhaps it was a way of measuring the effectiveness of […]
A Persistent Faith I heard a make-believe story once about Jesus. He was meeting with a group of people and he said to them, “Hey, everybody, I’ve got an idea!” Well now, the Presbyterian said: “Just a minute. Is it sophisticated?” The Baptist said: “Is it moral?” The Methodist said: “Is it non-alcoholic?” The […]
The Kingdom Come The feeding of the 5,000! Imagine that! 5,000 people invading Jesus’ life at a time when he wanted to be alone. Jesus had just received the news that John the Baptist was dead. And he chose to retreat to a quiet place – as was his custom from time to time. But […]
In the Center At the risk of sounding redundant, I share with you again our Gospel text for this day. Only this time, I will fill in around the edges – giving you some of the insight which I gained as I prepared for this morning. First, it is important for us to realize that […]