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Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, July 28, 2024: 2 Samuel 11:1-15; Psalm 14; Ephesians 3:14-21; John 6:1-21 This summer we’ve got some of the Bible’s greatest hits. Today is no exception: first, the story of David and Bathsheba, and then John’s account of the feeding of the 5000. I am interested right now in two characters…

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 10, July 21, 2024: 2 Samuel 7:1-14a; Psalm 89:20-37; Ephesians 2:11-22; Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 Today’s gospel comes from the central period of Jesus’ ministry, but because of the way the lectionary has divided the readings, we have the beginnings and endings of a story. At the beginning, we have the…

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 10, 14 July 2024: 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19; Psalm 24; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:14-29 Two of today’s readings talk about dancing, not exactly the subject you expect in the Bible. And they are very different dances. In our reading from the Hebrew scriptures, we hear the story of the Ark…

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, July 7, 2024, Proper 9: 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10; Psalm 48; 2 Corinthians 12:2-10; Mark 6:1-13 “Jesus is coming in 2031” the sign held by the street preacher on London’s Oxford Street said. What an odd sign, I thought. Such a strange combination of precision and vagueness. And it was far…

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 8 (June 30, 2024): 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27; Psalm 130; 2 Corinthians 8:7-15; Mark 5:21-43 Today’s gospel includes two miracles of healing. In the first, there is a woman who has hemorrhaged for twelve years. I always respond to the sentence about her suffering viscerally, I want to speak to…

Fifth Sunday of Pentecost, June 23, 2024 (Proper 7): 1 Samuel 17: (1a, 4-11, 19-23), 32-49; Psalm 9:9-20; 2 Corinthians 6:1-13; Mark 4:35-41 You really can’t blame the disciples. The Sea of Galilee is relatively narrow, but it can still see wild storms. They are in a boat, at night, when the storm comes up.…

Fourth Sunday of Pentecost, Proper 6, June 16, 2024: 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13; Psalm 20; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10,[11-13],14-17;Mark 4:26-34 Samuel goes to find a King for Israel, and the Lord tells him that one of the sons of Jesse the Bethlehemite will be the one. Jesse, called upon to produce his sons, first brings out the…

Third Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 5, June 9, 2024: 1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15); Psalm 138; 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1; Mark 3:20-35 The elders of Israel came to Samuel, and ask to have a king appointed over Israel. Samuel is not happy, but the Lord’s response is that the people “have rejected me from being…

Trinity Sunday, May 26, 2024: Isaiah 6:1-8; Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-17; Psalm 29 It is a fearful thing to see God. God reveals themself to Moses through the burning bush; even when delivering the commandments, Moses does not see God’s face. When Isaiah sees the Lord, sitting on his throne, he is distraught: “Woe is…

Pentecost, 19 May 2024: Ezekiel 37:1-14; Acts 2:1-21; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15; Psalm 104:25-35, 37 The spirit descended on the house. “And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.” At a former church I attended, we read the reading from Acts in…