Genesis

Genesis 1:1-2, 27  The Divine Image: Embracing Our Shared Humanity 

Genesis 1:28, 31 Pretending Doesn’t Make it So

Genesis 1:28  The Climate of Homespun Truths

Genesis 1:26  Planning for a Healthy World

Genesis 1:1-31  Pope Francis and the Environment

Genesis 1:1-31  Childhood Lessons on the Environment

Genesis 2:28  Diversity as Blessing: Living in the Spirit’s Unity 

Genesis 8:22    Rainbows and Memories

Genesis 17:7-8 An Antidote for Doubt

Genesis 21:10-14 Birth Stories 

Genesis 21:9-21  Hagar, Used, Abused and Still Beloved 

Genesis 21:9-21  Hagar -Forced into the Wilderness

Genesis 22:1-12 That Ask that Should Never Be Asked -Abraham and Isaac 

Genesis 22:1-18   Abraham & Isaac 

Genesis 25:30-32   The Value of the Important

Genesis 25:19-33, 27:1-46, 33:1-17   Listening In the Center

Genesis 27:41, 28:15-17  God’s Grace Meets Us in Our Greatest Messes 

Genesis 28:16  Sacred Space- Holy Ground

Genesis 45: Jacob’s Lost Son Joseph 

Genesis 45:4-5 & 50:20   Joseph, God Rewriting a Difficult Story 

Genesis 50:20  Joseph  – Though I Walk in the Midst of Trouble

Exodus 1:15-17   The Quiet Resistance of Shiphrah and Puah 

Exodus 1:15-22  Checking Pharaoh’s Power

Exodus 1:15-22  The Tale of Two Midwives

Exodus 3   Lent – Letting God be God

Exodus 3:2-3   Holy Encounters, Holy Ground

Exodus 3:3-5  A Burning Bush, a Holy Calling

Exodus 3:7-8  The Long Journey to a Promised Land

Exodus 3:7-8 In the Wilderness

Exodus 3:14   Who is God to You?

Exodus 17:6-7  Anchored in Hope – Quieting the Anxious Heart 

Exodus 20  Remembering to Remember the Sabbath

Exodus 20:8  Grace in Action

Exodus 20:8  The Gift of a Village

Exodus 32:1-21  Beware the Golden Calf of Deceit 

Leviticus 19  When Political Retribution Defies Biblical Justice 

Leviticus 19:33-34  The Irony of ICE Actions Against Christians 

Leviticus 19:10, 33  Hearing the Cries of God’s People

Leviticus 19:15  Faith, Justice, and the Supreme Court’s Moral Abdication 

Leviticus 19:18  Love Draws the Circle Wide

Leviticus 25:3    Facts Always Win

Deuteronomy 8   Thanksgiving – A Time to Remember

Deuteronomy 8:7-18   There Are No Bootstrap People

Deuteronomy 10:17b-18  The Importance of a Vote

Deuteronomy 10:17-19, 24:17  Immigration Policy – Child Abuse

Deuteronomy 24:20  A Place for the Refugee

Deuteronomy 30:19   Choosing Life in a Warming World

Joshua 24:15  In a Multitude of Choices, Choosing the God of Life

Joshua 24:15  Choosing the God of Life

I Samuel 16:7  Inauguration – Changing Visions – Changing Dreams

II Samuel 2:25-28   A Pause in the Insanity of War

II Samuel 12:9  Prophets and the Word of God

II Samuel 18:5,33  God’s Pain Over Lost People

I kings 3:5  Dr. Fauci, King Solomon and The Need for Wisdom in Washington 

I Kings 3:5-9   A Heart With the Skill to Listen

I Kings 19:11-13    In the Silence – Whispers From God

Job 1:18-20 & Job 23:8-9  In the Face of the Worlds Suffering

Job 2:9 & 7:11-12   Wife of Job (Dramatic Monologue)

Job 3:14   Sighs to Deep for Words

Job 19:23-25  Does Anyone Really Need God

Job 19:23 – 25  A Space for God to Touch 

Psalms   To the God of All Truth

Psalm 1      They Are Like Trees

Psalm 1    Rooted in God’s Presence

Psalm 8  Resort Roots – The Fish, the Lake, and the Lessons We Didn’t Know We were Learning 

Psalm 8:3-5   The Gift of Sabbath Time

Psalm 15:1  The Power of Moral Clarity in a World of Ethical Challenges 

Psalm 15:1-2 The Tragic Implications of Denial

Psalm 15:1-3  When the Long Night Ends

Psalm 16:1 Happiness is a State of the Soul

Psalm 18:6  What Color Will it Be?

Psalm 18:28   Reimagining Christmas Traditions 

Psalm 19:1-4  And Still, Creation Declares God’s Glory 

Psalm 19:1 The Heaven’s Are Telling – God’s Good Gifts of Creation

Psalm 23  Upon the Night View of the World, a Day View Must Follow 

Psalm 23   Letting Our Shepherd Lead

Psalm 23  Cups Running Over

Psalm 23 Resting in God’s Gift of Creation

Psalm 23:1   The Lord is My Shepherd

Psalm 23:1   I Shall Not Want

Psalm 23:2     He Makes Me Lie Down in Green Pastures

Psalm 23:2b    Beside Still Waters

Psalm 23:3    God Restores My Soul 

Psalm 23:3b  Led in Paths of Righteousness

Psalm 23:4b  Thou Art With Me

Psalm 23:4a  Walking Through the Dark Valley

Psalm 23:4b   Thy Rod and Thy Staff, They Comfort Me

Psalm 23:5    Thou Anointest My Head with Oil

Psalm 23:5a   In the Presence of My Enemies

Psalm 23:5b   My Cup Runneth  Over

Psalm 23:6a    Surely Goodness and Mercy

Psalm 23:6  I Shall Dwell in the House of the Lord 

Psalm 24   Trump’s Bad Mic Day 

Psalm 24:1  What Kind of World are We Leaving Our Children

Psalm 26:7 Giving Thanks for a Thanksgiving Hymn

Psalm 27:1   Holding in the Center

Psalm 27:10  God Never Stops Loving

Psalm 30    Hearts Break for Those Whose Hearts are Breaking 

Psalm 30:5b  Grief’s Expression

Psalm 30:5b  Grief Catches Us Unaware – A Revision

Psalm 32:1-2   God’s Grace in the Hard Lessons of Life

Psalm 32    Guilt Removed and Grace Given 

Psalm 32:5    The Hidden Cost of Pain 

Psalm 34:18    Kindness Drips Through Tears

Psalm 34:18   Weighing the Scales of Justice

Psalm 34:18 Wisdom For Today:L Safeguarding Our Most Precious Gifts 

Psalm 36:1-9  Environmental Disasters – From Denial to Action 

Psalm 37: Finding Hope -Trust in Tough Times 

Psalm 40:2   Forgiving God’s Children  – Including Yourself

Psalm 40:5  God Preparing a Way

Psalm 42   100,000 Laments, 100,000 Cries of Pain

Psalm 42:1   Sabbath Time

Psalm 42:5   Hanging on to Hope

Psalm 42:5   When the Soul is Cast Down?

Psalm 42:11   Why Art Thou Cast Down, O My Soul 

Psalm 51:7  The Grace in Diving Memory Loss

Psalm 52     Complacency is Not an Option

Psalm 56:8  The God Who Stores Tears

Psalm 57:1   Sheltering in the Shadow of God’s Wings

Psalm 65    Five Thousand Breathless Dawns

Psalm 65:9-13  God’s Earth in Our Hands, Responding to a World Ablaze 

Psalm 67:4   In Praise of Founding Mothers

Psalm 73    Why Do the Wicked Prosper

Psalm 80  Seeking God’s Favor in a Time of Suffering 

Psalm 80  The Shining of Christ’s Light 

Psalm 82:3   Immigration Policy – Recognizing Child Abuse for What It Is

Psalm 83:3-4  Wading Through the Aftermath of George Floyd’s Death

Psalm 84:3  A Trip to the Headwaters of the Mississippi

Psalm 90:12  Priorities – Remember the Big Rocks First

Psalm 91:4-6  Sheltering in the Shadow of God’s Wings

Psalm 92:1-2  Giving Thanks in an Imperfect Time

Psalm 92:13 Planted in the House of the Lord

Psalm 92:12-14  Aging Gracefully

Psalm 92:12-14   Aging with Grace

Psalm 96    Envisioning a World Turned Around by God’s Saving Justice 

Psalm 96:11-12  Every Good and Perfect Gift

Psalm 97   Prayers for God’s Light to Shine on Ukraine

Psalm 98   Jesus – Standing with the Underside 

Psalm 101:1-2    Swimming With the Pigs

Psalm 101  Quotes and Prayers Tucked in My Bible

Psalm 103:1-13  Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

Psalm 103      *Long Expected Jesus, Come 

Psalm 103:13  Forgiveness Comes as a Refreshing Balm

Psalm 116   A Precious Sight in the Lord’s Eyes 

Psalm 119:10  Prayer for the New Year – A Faithful Heart

Psalm 127:3  Life in the Interruptions

Psalm 130:1-2  I Pray Because I Can’t Help Myself

Psalm 130:3  Howard Thurman on Moments of High Resolve

Psalm 130:5 The Peace of the Eternal

Psalm 133:1,3  Kindred Living Together in Unity

Psalm 133:1-2a & 3  Families – Hanging on to the Precious

Psalm 137:1-4   Seed of Mercy, Goodness and Love

Psalm 137:1-4  An Antidote to Doubt

Psalm 138:7-8   Joseph  – Though I Walk in the Midst of Trouble

Psalm 139  Reflections on Psalm 139 

Psalm 139  The God From Whom We Cannot Hide

Psalm 139:7-10  Millennial’s and the Faith Community

Psalm 139:7-10  The Courage to Break Free

Psalm 139:9-10  The Long Arm of God

Psalm 139:23-24 Being a Christian is More than Something We Believe

Psalm 139:23-24 An Unintentional Observer of a Life

Psalm 146     Subversive Scripture

Psalm 145:14-15  SNAP -The Bowl is Empty – Who Will Refill it? 

Psalm 147:3  Trusting in the Fallow Time

Psalm 147:3    Grief Spills Over

Proverbs 1:8-9   Susanna Wesley’s Faith

Proverbs 2:2  National Divisions – A Time to Listen

Proverbs 3:5   Moral Imagination- Lifting Domes

Proverbs 3:5-6  Sometimes the Answers are Already within our Grasp

Proverbs 3:5-6  Going in Circles

Proverbs 3:13-18  Words That Build Nations and Hearts 

Proverbs 9:10   Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Today’s Rise of Fascism

Proverbs 10:9   The Politics of Disparagement

Proverbs 11:25 Resting in the Gardens

Proverbs 12:17  The Lemon Car

Proverbs 14:31 Kindness in the Crossfire

Proverbs 15:1  Offering Grace in Covid Times

Proverbs 16:18   Please Don’t Let Me Look Dumb

Proverbs 17:6   The Gratitude Jar

Proverbs 17:17   The Footprints of a Friend

Proverbs 17:17    The Friendship that Never Ends

Proverbs 17:22   Life’s Little Bumps – Sometimes the Story is Enough

Proverbs 18:12-13   Leaving Our Bubbles of Truth

Proverbs 21:21  The Power of a Word

Proverbs 22:6   Milk Spilled with Love

Proverbs 22:6  On the Light Side – A Dash of Humor

Proverbs 22:28  The Gift of Setting Boundaries

Proverbs 27:9  Blessed are the Bonds of Friendship

Proverbs 28:15-16  Which Truth is True

Proverbs 29:18  Grasping Hold of the Vision

Ecclesiastes 3:1  In the Era of the Urgent – Clinging to the Important

Ecclesiastes 3:11   A Touch of Spring

Song of Solomon 2:11-13    Love Story in the Garden

Song of Solomon 2:12-16  Treasures of Spring

Song of Solomon 8:6-7    Sermon – Fifty Years of Growing In Love

Song of Solomon 8:7   Treasured Memories

Isaiah

Isaiah 1:17 Gaza: Prayers for Justice and Mercy in a War-Torn Land 

Isaiah 1:23 Immigration Policy – Recognizing Child Abuse

Isaiah 2:3b-5   Peace Elusive in the Promised Land

Isaiah 2:4   In the Shadow of War, Hearing God’s Heart for Peace 

Isaiah 2:4   Cure Our Warring Madness

Isaiah 2:1-4  God’s Dream for the World 

Isaiah 2:4   Sympathy Doesn’t Go to the One Who Creates the Most Pain

Isaiah 2:3b-5 Walk in the Light of the Lord

Isaiah 6:1-11   Listening for the Truth

Isaiah 6:1-5   God Calls in Unlikely Moments

Isaiah 7:14   Emmanuel, God With Us

Isaiah 9:2      The Longest Night,  

Isaiah 9:2     Christmas Will Come and Go – But the Christ of Christmas Will Remain

Isaiah 9:2-4  ICE Raids and Racial Profiling: The Burden of Constant Fear 

Isaiah 9:6   The Christmas Spirit

Isaiah 9:2-7   Hope in a World of Darkness

Isaiah 9:2,6  There is Both Mystery and Miracle About Christmas

Isaiah 10:1-2/ Isaiah 58  A Pandora’s Box of Power, Greed, and Indifference 

Isaiah 11:1-9     Advent, and the World of Liminal Space

Isaiah 11:1     Prophet, Poet and Promises 

Isaiah 11:1-5  Embracing the Spirit of Justice During Advent’s Sacred Time 

Isaiah 11:1-4a, 6  Star Child

Isaiah 11:1-4a, 6   Yearning for the Perfect Christmas

Isaiah 11:6   When Wolves and Lambs Lie Down Together

Isaiah 11:6-9   A World of Enough,    

Isaiah 11:6-9    Advent Waiting with Expectation

Isaiah 11:6-9  Advents Ancient Promises

Isaiah 12:2    A Prayer When Grieving

Isaiah 30:18  Weary in the Waiting

Isaiah 35:1  Winter Doldrums and a Flower Show

Isaiah 35:1-2   God Makes a Way

Isaiah 25:6b-8  Springs of Water, for the Weary Heart 

Isaiah 35:1-10  Shaped and Formed in the Wilderness

Isaiah 35   The Holy Way

Isaiah 35:1-10  Out of Darkness – Hope

Isaiah 40:1  Memories of 9-11 

Isaiah 40:3   Prepare a Way for the Lord

Isaiah 40:4-5  Thoughts on Martin Luther King Jr.

Isaiah 40:28-31  Strength Under Pressure

Isaiah 40:21-31  God’s Care is Forever

Isaiah 40:29-31  Walking in Remembered Radiance

Isaiah 40:31  Where Eagles Gather

Isaiah 42:1-4   Heartache at Christmas

Isaiah 42:1-4  A Bruised Reed He Will Not Break

Isaiah 42:3-4   Trusting God’s Justice, When Evil Seems to Triumph 

Isaiah 43:1   Named by God

Isaiah 43:1b-2  “Thou Knowest, O God, I Am Thine!

Isaiah 43:1-2     I Have Called You by Name 

Isaiah 43:1-2  When Through the Deep Waters

Isaiah 43:2-3   Seeing Outside the Frame

Isaiah 43:10-18  Is it Well With Your Soul?

Isaiah 43:18-19  Restoration -Trusting God With Pain

Isaiah 45:2   The Mood of Christmas

Isaiah 46:4  The Joy of a Class Reunion

Isaiah 48:8-12   Life Wrapped in Unexpected Packages

Isaiah 49:14-16  All Saints – A Day to Remember

Isaiah 49:15  God’s Mother-Like Love

Isaiah 51:6  God’s Saving Power Unbroken

Isaiah 52:7-9  How Beautiful Upon the Mountains

Isaiah 55:1-9     Invited to the Waters: God’s Call to All

Isaiah 55:8-9   When Plans Go Awry

Isaiah 58:6-8  Bonhoeffer’s Warning for a Nation in Crisis 

Isaiah 58:6-10 A Pandora’s Box of Power, Greed and Indifference  

Isaiah 58:6-9   Children – The Price of War

Isaiah 61     Thoughts on Inauguration Day

Isaiah 61:1-2  Jesus – Standing with the Underside

Isaiah 61:1-4    A Garland Instead of Ashes

Isaiah 61:1-3   Needing Some Christmas Promise

Isaiah 65:17-23  No Child Born for Misfortune:God’s Hope for Humanity

Isaiah 66:13   Mother’s Day Love

Jeremiah 1:6-7   The God Like Attribute of Mercy

Jeremiah 5:28  The Supreme Court’s Shame: Ruling from a Place of Privilege 

Jeremiah 8:10b-11   The Heavy Work of Prophesy

Jeremiah 8:22-9:1  Jeremiah- “Oh that I Might Weep Day and Night”

Jeremiah 9:1   A Fountain of Tears: Weeping with Gaza 

Jeremiah 9:23-24   Seeing 20/20 in 2020

Jeremiah 17:7-9   Setting Deep Roots

Jeremiah 20:7-13 Celebrating 250 Years, Giving Thanks for the Prophets Who Formed Us   

Jeremiah 20:7b-8   Jeremiah, The Pastor’s Prophet

Jeremiah 22:3   Death of the Innocents

Jeremiah 23:1-5  Shepherds Who Betray God’s People

Jeremiah 23:5-8   Poking Holes in the Darkness

Jeremiah 28:15 – 29:7  The Seduction of False Prophets 

Jeremiah 29:5-7   When Plans Go Amiss

Jeremiah 31:34b    God’s Divine Amnesia

Lamentations 1:1-2, 3:19-24 In the Wake of Desolation: Lamentations and Gaza’s Heartache

Lamentations 3:17-20   How Long God, How Long

Lamentations 3:19-224   Memories that Haunt

Lamentations 3:22-23  Cold Winters and Springtime Hope

Lamentations 3:22-23    Mercies New Every Morning

Lamentations 3:22-24   Surprised by God’s Angels of Mercy

Lamentations 3:49  On the Other Side of Good Friday

Ezekiel 36:25-27    A New Heart

Ezekiel 33:7b,11, 34:3-4  Ezekiel, God’s Watchman Called to Speak Truth 

Ezekiel 37:9-10   Life in the Valley of “Never”

Ezekiel 37:1-14   Rattling Bones, Rattling Hope

Joel 2:13-2:12 Ash Wednesday’s Call to Repentance

Joel 2:12-13  Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:12-13  The National News and the Book of Joel

Amos 5:23-24 ICE – An Invasion of Fear 

Amos  5:24   Another Week – Another Shooting

Amos 5:24    Gun Deaths – The Tears Keep Flowing

Amos 5:24   Faith and the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

Amos 5:24   Seeing 20/20 in 2020

Amos 7:7-10  Amos’ Plumb Line and Our Moral Compass 

Amos 5:24   Where War Grinds On

Amos 9:14   Giving Thanks for Their Vision

Jonah 1:1-2   Jonah and the Word of the Lord

Jonah 4:2-3  Jonah and God’s Too Persistent Call

Jonah 1-4    Jonah – God’s Petulant Prophet

Micah 4:1-3    Dreams of a Day When No More Soldiers Die 

Micah 4:1-5   The Promise of Peace

Micah 4:3-4 In a Moment, Life Changes

Micah 5:2-5  The Trip to Bethlehem

Micah 6:8    A Prayer for Changed Hearts 

Micah 6:8 *Finding the Way Home

Micah 6:8   Save Us from Weak Resignation

Micah 6:8  Conflicting Values Tear at the Fabric of Our Nation

Micah 6:6-8   Prayer and Action

Habakkuk 1:2, 2:1-3, 3:17-19  Habakkuk’s Journey of Faith: From Questioning to Trust 

Habakkuk 2:1-5    Advent’s Waiting Time

Habakkuk 2:15  The Scourge of Addiction

Habakkuk 3:17-19   Though the Fig Tree Does Not Blossom

Habakkuk 3:17-19  Yet, I Will Rejoice in the Lord

Zechariah 7:9-10   Democracy USA Style

Zechariah 7:9-10  Zip Ties and Broken Doors: Homeland Security or Homeland Terror?

Zechariah 7:9-10  Mercy in Short Supply

Zechariah 7:9     For A Just Peace in the Holy Land

Zechariah 8:16-17  The Pain of Trusting A False Prophet

Malachi

Sirach

Sirach  6:14-15 Faithful Friends are a Sturdy Treasure

Matthew 1:1-17   Skeletons in the Closet

Matthew 1:18-19  Love That Listened to a Dream 

Matthew 1:18-19   Joseph’s Disrupted Plans

Matthew 1:18-24   When Words Become Flesh

Matthew 1:18-25   A Dream and the Voice of an Angel

Matthew 1:23   God, Searching to Save

Matthew 1:23  Resting in the Mystery

Matthew 1:22-23    A Tree Full of Blessed Memories

Matthew 2:1-2     Follow the Star

Matthew 2:1-3   Magi – Where is the Child?

Matthew 2:1-2   A New Year – Leaving Christmas Behind

Matthew 2:9   Thoughts on Entering 2023

Matthew 2:1-12  After the Celebration – Epiphany

Matthew 2:1-12  Returning From Christmas

Matthew 2:10-11   The Star’s Silent Call and the Heart’s Deep Yearning

Matthew 2:10-12  The Joy of New Beginnings

Matthew 2:13-16 Rachel’s Tears, Grief Across the Ages 

Matthew 2:16-18   Rachel’s Tears

Matthew 2:16-18   Jesus – Child of Rubble

Matthew 2:1-18  After the Magi’s Visit – Cruelty Arrives   

Matthew 2:13-23   Mary and Joseph – Running From Danger

Matthew 2:13-23  Confronting Evil – Even at Christmas   

Matthew 2:13-23  Turning the Pages of a Year

Matthew 4:16    Candles of Hope

Matthew 5:4     Jesus Weeps with Those Who Weep

Matthew 5:6  Making a Life of Difference

Matthew 5:6-7  The Power of a Movement

Matthew 5:7  Singing Resistance on Palm Sunday

Matthew 5:9   To Say a Prayer for Peace

Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the Peacemakers

Matthew 5:14-15 Letting Your Light Shine

Matthew 5:15-16   We Call Them Saints 

Matthew 5:15-17  Brightly Beams God’s Mercy

Matthew 5:43-45 What is a Christian to do in this World of Alternative Facts

Matthew 5:43-48 The Legitimization of Hate

Matthew 5:43-45  We Have to Stop the Hate

Matthew 5:48    Left Over Ashes

Matthew 6:10  An Apology for a Former President

Matthew 6:19-21  Harvest of the Heart

Matthew 6:28-29   Consider the Lilies

Matthew 6:33     I Worry

Matthew 6:33   The Search for Happiness

Matthew 6:33   Getting the Big Rocks into Place First

Matthew 7:1-2  God’s Limits or Ours?

Matthew 7:1-3   Becoming Free to be Compassionate

Matthew 7:1-3  God is on the Side of the Poor

Matthew 7:3  Jury Duty and the Question “Isn’t Christianity all about Forgiveness and Redemption”

Matthew 7:15-17  The Pain of Trusting a False Prophet

Matthew 7:21 Are Our Hearts Still Alive?  Reflecting on Justice and Compassion 

Matthew 7:36-50   Well, That was Embarrassing

Matthew 9:36  Jesus and the False Gospel of Toxic Empathy 

Matthew 9:36    Jesus Had Compassion on Them

Matthew 10:16 The “High” of Anger, Addicted to Rage

Matthew 10:29-31    Just the Right Amount of Rain

Matthew 11:28  Be Kind to Yourself

Matthew 11:28-30   Calm in the Midst of Chaos

Matthew 11:28-30   Why Jesus?

Matthew 11:28-30   Offering Grace in Covid Times

Matthew 13:10-17  Stumbling Into God’s Arms

Matthew 13:13   The Gentle Draw of God

Matthew 13:13-15  Listening for the Truth 

Matthew 14:9-13  When Grief Meets Compassion: Jesus After John’s Death 

Matthew 14:22-31  The Way of Prayer

Matthew 16:24-25   The Way of the Cross – Grace and Mercy

Matthew 16:24-26    The Value of a Soul

Matthew 17:1-8      Listen to Jesus

Matthew 17:20   The Long Wail of Lost Children

Matthew 18:1-7, 10  Angels Watching Over Me

Matthew 18:21-22  The Trouble with Words

Matthew 19:24   Easier For a Camel

Matthew 18:6-10 Food or Jets? A Government’s Twisted Priorities 

Matthew 21:7-8   In the Chanting of Hosanna, Who Is this Jesus?

Matthew 21:8-9  Finding Your Place in the Parade

Matthew 21:28-32   The Quality of a Commitment

Matthew 21:31  Breaking Free From Sex Trafficking

Matthew 22:37-40  The Heavy Cost of Politicizing Covid

Matthew 23:37-38  Climate Science is Not an Opinion

Matthew 25:40 Thoughts on Inauguration Day

Matthew 25:40    Health Care Debates and Anxieties

Matthew 25:40   Hunger at the Dollar Store

Matthew 25:40   Common Decency in Immigration Policy

Matthew 25:37-40   Un-Dividing a Divided Washington

Matthew 25:31-46   Faith and the Plight of Refugees

Matthew 25:31-46   The Power to Push Back the Darkness

Matthew 25:31-46   Conflicting Values Tear at the Fabric of our Nation

Matthew 25:31-40, 5:3-9  Politics Through the Lens of Jesus

Matthew 25:35-36, 40  They Will Know We Are Christians by Our _____.

Matthew 26:6-13  “The Anointer” ( A Dramatic Monologue)

Matthew 26:14-16    Mother of Judas ( A Dramatic Monologue)

Matthew 26:20  Dimensions of Holy Week

Matthew 27:46 Ted Loder – A Good Friday Prayer 

Matthew 27:46  A Good Friday Time

Matthew 27:46  On the Path to Easter

Matthew 28:5-6 Easter – The Heartbeat of Eternal Hope

Matthew 28:5-6  Easter Promise

Matthew 28:1-10   The Church of the Last Chance – An Easter Story

Matthew 28:1-10    God’s Unexpected Answer to Evil

Matthew 28:1-10    I Believe in Easter

Matthew 28:20 Jesus Keeps Calling

Mark 1:8-13   Ministering Angels

Mark 1:10-13   Jesus and the Ministering Angels

Mark 1:15  Repent, and Trust in the Joyful Message of Hope

Mark 4:41 Put Your Hand in the Hand of the One Who Quiets the Storm

Mark 6:19-24   Whatever Became of Salome?

Mark 9:2-3   Catching a Glimpse of the Divine

Mark 9:6-8   Following Jesus- The One Who is – Or the one We Want Him to Be

Mark 10:14, 16   When the Heart Bleeds

Mark 12:31  God Calls us a Higher Standard – That of Loving Our Neighbor as Ourselves

Mark 12:30-31    Missing – Online Christian Values

Mark 12:31  Fear that Divides

Mark 15:34  The Intersection of Blessing and Grace

Mark 16:5-8   Easter – Fear and Terror

Luke

Luke 1:5-17   Making Ready a People

Luke 1:10-20   Brushed by Angel Wings

Luke 1:30, Luke 2:1-9       Mary’s Journey 

Luke 1:26-38  Mary’s Yes- Both Gift and Dilemma,  

Luke 1:26-38  Walk Softly as You Go Through Christmas

Luke 1:47-53   In Spite of it All – Angels Still Sing

Luke 1:26-38  Getting Ready for Christmas

Luke 1:38-45  The Strength of a Mother’s Love

Luke 1:38-45  Do You Hear the Angels Song- “Be Not Afraid”

Luke 1:46-47  Mary’s Song

Luke 1:52-53  A Moral Crisis – Faith Calls Us to Be Voices for the Voiceless 

Luke 1:49-53   Christmas Promise in a “Not Yet” World

Luke 1:57, 67-79  Reflecting God’s Light

Luke 1:78-79  In the Face of Hatred and Warring, Christmas Comes 

Luke 1:76-78   Zechariah – Sentenced to Silence and Wonder 

Luke 1:67-79    Christmas is for Imperfect People

Luke 2:1-7    On a Silent Night

Luke 2:6-7   Mystery, Wonder and Awe

Luke 2:1-14     He is Born

Luke 2:1-20   Three Hundred and Sixty-five Days of Christmas Each Year

Luke 2:15-20  Telling the True Story

Luke 2:15-20   The Singing of Angels

Luke 2:21-24  Each Child a Miracle

Luke 2:25-38 Christmas is for Those Who Refuse to Grow Up

Luke 3:4-6 Against the Backdrop of Pain – Advent Waits

Luke 4:1-2  Tested in the Wilderness

Luke 4:16-19    Advent Anticipation

Luke 4:29-30   Killing the Messenger, Jesus and Dr. Fauci

Luke 5:1-11    Fish Story

Luke 6:20-24    The Upside Down World of Jesus 

Luke 7:37-38   Sins Forgiven 

Luke 9:28-36    Are You Listening to Jesus 

Luke 9:28b-29  Transcendent Moments

Luke 10:27   Love Like a Magic Penny

Luke 10:25-37   Syrian Refugees – Adrift and in Desperate Need

Luke 10:25-37   Moving Beyond our Fear to Care

Luke 12:16-21  Food Waster and Aid Cuts: What Jesus Would Say 

Luke 12:27  Fulfilling a Vision

Luke 12:27 – Splendor in the Garden

Luke 13:21   Leaven in the Kingdom of God

Luke 13:31-34   On the Journey With Jesus

Luke 13:34  The Prophetic Voice in a Divided World 

Luke  14:16-30  How Will We Respond to Jesus’ Call? 

Luke 15:10   God’s Pain Over Lost People

Luke 15:11-32  Drama- Mother of the Prodigal Son

Luke 15:11-24  Forgetting to Come Home 

Luke 15:11-24   A Father Wait for His Son’s Return

Luke 15:11-24       God Never Stops Searching for Us

Luke 15:11-24      Saved From Our Predicament

Luke 15:11-24  We Cannot Fall From Grace

Luke 15:11-24  Prone to Wander

Luke 16:19-21  Heaven Doesn’t Welcome Greed 

Luke 18:10-14   A Nation Starved by Self-Righteousness 

Luke 18:6-8a    The Gift of Persistence

Luke 19:1-10  Zacchaeus – A Changed Heart

Luke 19:37-45   Palm Sunday’s Shouts of Joy 

Luke 19:41-42   How God Must Weep

Luke 19:41-44    The Tears of Holy Week

Luke 19:41-44   The Tears of Jesus

Luke 19:42   A Covid19 Palm Sunday

Luke 22:3-4    Judas – Betrayer or Confused Disciple?

Luke 22:34, 23:44-48  Good Friday- Coming Face to Face with Evil

Luke 23:16-24       Why Barabbas?

Luke 23:21   Holy Week, Questions and Passions

Luke 23:34-46   The Intersection of Blessing and Grace

Luke 23:49   An Unnamed Woman at the Foot of the Cross

Luke 23:55- Luke 24:5   Just when You Think Your World Has Ended – Easter Comes

Luke 24:1-5  Easter is God’s Message of Hope

Luke 24:5  Easter’s Evidence -Transformed Lives, Changed Hearts

Luke 24:1-11  Doubt & Faith Intermingle

Luke 24:11  The Gift of Doubt

Luke 24:49  Pentecost – Strands of Compassion, Mercy & Grace

John 1:9 & 47, 4:24, 8:40, 16:13, 17:17  A I and Finding the Truth

John 1:1-5   And Christmas Came 

John 1:4-5  In Shadowed Places, God’s Light Still Shines

John 1:5  One Born to be Light

John 1:1-18  Christ our Hope

John 1:14   An Interrupted Advent

John 1:1-16  Dwelling Among us in Love

John 1:4-5    Needing Some Christmas Promise

John 1:1-5    Just When the Night is Darkest

John 1:1-5  Trusting in the Light

John 1:1-8   By God’s Grace – Light Will Shine

John 1:1-17  Limping Through the World with God

John 1:1-17  God’s Welcome Sign, For All the World’s People

John 1:10-17  The Power to Become Children of God

John 1:1-5    A Moment of Grace

John 1:12  A Christmas Star

John 3:1-17  Nicodemus and the Whispering Winds of the Spirit 

John 3:8   Laughing the Laughter of the Spirit

John 3:16  The Climate of Homespun Truths

John 3:16   Appreciating and Loving God’s Gift of Creation

John 3:16-17  Jesus Came to Save the World

John 3:16-17    Grace Upon Grace

John 3:17   Pondering the Mystery of Jesus

John 6:37b   Remembering Jesus’ Love

John 7:53- 8:11 The Scandalized Woman

John 8:32    Covid In a Generation of Instant Gratification

John 8:32  Vaccine Wars and The Long Slow Conversion

John 10:10  Life with Abundance

John 10:10 Christmas is the Season of Affirmation

John 11:1-44   Mary, A Disciple of Jesus (A Dramatic Monologue)

John 11:25-26   Easter Wonder and Awe

John 12:3-7  Mary’s Extravagant Generosity

John 13:24-25    Just Love

John 13:25   Love Draws the Circle Wide

John 13:34  Fear Divides – Love Unites

John 13:34  Remembering Decency- John McCain

John 13:34-35   Blessed is the Family

John 14:27  Peace in a Troubling World 

John 14:26    Star Wars and the Holy Spirit

John 15  Star Wars and the Holy Spirit

John 15:5-6   Favorite Quotes

John 15:12    The Power to Bless  

John 15:12   The Power of a Small Group

John 15:13 Every Life Precious – Remembering 9/11

John 15:13    Heartaches of War 

John 15:13   Greater Love Has No One

John 16:13    I Believed Richard Nixon

John 16:33    Everywhere, Always in God’s Hands

John 16:33  Giving Up Hopelessness for Lent

John 20:19-22  Behind Locked Doors, A Sanctuary of Grace

John 20:19-29  Hovering Behind Locked Doors

John 20:19 -29  Behind Locked Doors, Christ Shows Up

John 20:19-29   The Church of the Last Chance – An Easter Story

John 20:24-29   Thomas and Other Skeptics

John 20:24-25   Doubting Your Doubts

John 20:24-25   The Gift of Doubt

John 20:24-29  Noticing God

 Acts 2    Laughing the Laughter of the Spirit

Acts 2  Pentecost – Holy Spirit’s Flaming Arrival 

Acts 2    Star Wars and the Holy Spirit

Acts 2:1-21  Pentecost’s Winds Still Blow

Acts 2:1-6   In the Listening

Acts 2:17-18   Winds of Pentecost Blow

Acts 2:17-18  Strands of Compassion, Mercy & Grace

Acts 4:19-20  Telling Our Stories of God’s Love

Acts 5:28-39  The Unstoppable Message of Resurrection

Acts 9:1-4   Our Long Slow Conversion

Acts 9:1-20   Saul’s Conversion and Our Call to Mercy 

Acts 9:4-5   Grace in the Turnarounds

Acts 20:35 Circles at Christmas

Romans 8:26 Standing at the Door

Romans 8:26  Sighs Too Deep for Words

Romans 8:28  All Things Working Together for Good

Romans 8:35, 37-38  Assumptions- Coloring Our World with Misinformation

Romans 8:38-39  Tears of Confusion

Romans 8:38-39    God With Us in the Small Stuff

Romans 12  A Roadmap for Living Well

Romans 12:1-2 The Challenge of Trump to Christian Ethics 

Romans 12:8-9   A Precious Sight in the Lord’s Eyes 

Romans 12:2, 16-18  Spreading our Grievances

Romans 12:9-12   The Great Storm of the Lord

Romans 12:9-13   A Clouded Pentecost

Romans 12:9-13, 16-17  Transformational Thinking

Romans 12:14-18  Living Peaceably with All

Romans 12:21 Planting Seeds of Mercy, Compassion and Love

Romans 13:8-9  No Perfect Families – Just Love

Romans 13:10   Interconnected and Interdependent

Romans 13:10  Recovering Christian Ethics in the Age of Covid-19

Romans 15:13   Where is God?

Romans 15:13  Finding Joy in Each Other

I & II Corinthians

I Corinthians 1:9, 24-25  God Keeps Faith

I Corinthians 1:18-25  God’s Foolishness, the the Shadow of Injustice

I Corinthians 2:9    How Great Thou Art

I Corinthians 3:9   A Part of God’s Garden

I Corinthians 5:17  Easter’s Rescue Mission

I Corinthians 12:4-6    Who in Your Life Needs Some Applause?

I Corinthians 12:8   Righting Relationships

I Corinthians 13:1-4    The Way of Christ

I Corinthians 13:1-5  A Callous Cruelty Toward Children

I Corinthians 13:4   Walking on the Sunny Side

I Corinthians 13:1-3  Living Beyond our Fears,  into the Joyous Generosity of God

I Corinthians 13:1-13 To Love is to be Vulnerable

I Corinthians 13:4-7   Growing Values in a Time of Covid

I Corinthians 13:4-8a    Love – The Condition Under Which We Flourish

I Corinthians 13:7-8a  Revolving Doors and The Grace of Interruptions

I Corinthians 13:12  Seeing Through a Glass Darkly

I Corinthians 13:1 & 13  Noisy Gongs or Christ Centered Love

I Corinthians 13:13  When Will We Stop the Hate

I Corinthians 13:13   Love is the Rudder

I Corinthians 15:19-21  Easter’s Persistent Hope

I Corinthians 15:54b-55   A Cross Stands at the Center of Easter

II Corinthians 1:3-4    Imagined Slights and Small Misunderstandings

II Corinthians 4:7-9  The Power to Overcome

II Corinthians 4:7-9  Choosing One’s Attitude – Finding Meaning

II Corinthians 4:16-18   Do Not Lose Heart

II Corinthians 5:17    Sometimes There is a Hole in the Ceiling Made for the Hand of God

II Corinthians 5:17  A New Year – A Time to Bless and  to Heal

II Corinthians 5:17    Ted Loder -Bring More of What I Dream

II Corinthians 5:17  Ted Loder – Help Me Believe in New Beginnings

II Corinthians 6:6-10  Penniless We Own the World 

II Corinthians 9:7    The Joy of Generosity

II Corinthians 9:7  Wealth – A Means of Blessing Others

II Corinthians 12:9  Carried by Grace

Galatians 3:28  Diversity as Blessing: Living in the Spirit’s Unity

Galatians 5:13-14 The Enigma of Donald Trump in the Evangelical World

Galatians 5:14    Jesus Doesn’t Give our Politics a Pass on Loving our Neighbor

Galatians 5:22-23    It Takes So Little to Be Kind

Galatians 5:22-23   Needed – Patience, Persistence, Love

Galatians 5:21-22  Getting a Character Do-Over

Galatians 6:2     Waiting Through a Storm

Galatians 6:2  Reminded of Small Blessings

Ephesians 2:8  Standing in the Need of Grace

Ephesians 3:16-19    Stretching the Heart

Ephesians 3:16-19  Empty Your Pockets

Ephesians 3:16-19  How Wide the Heart, How High the Soul

Ephesians 3:16-19    The Unappreciated Cottage Cheese

Ephesians 4:1-3  God Has Called Us to This Hour 

Ephesians 4:14-15    No Longer Dupes

Ephesians 3:17b-19   Steadfast Love Transforms all Failure

Ephesians 4:16-19   Prophets and the Word of God

Ephesians 4:30-32 Lent – A Season of Turning Around

Ephesians 4:32  Forgiveness Lives in the Center of Relationships

Ephesians 5:8-11  Beacon of Light in a Sea of Chaos

Ephesians 6:10-18  Are You Listening to Screwtape of Listening to God?

Ephesians 6:16-21  Unanswered Prayer and God’s Answers

Philippians 1:3-11 Set on Fire With Gospel Love

Philippians 1:6   If I Were Just a Better Christian

Philippians 1:6  Rosalynn Carter – Living the Vision

Philippians 2  Civility is Basic to Christian Life

Philippians 2:1-2    Unity in a Holy Week Walk

Philippians 2:3-4   Leaving the Judging to God

Philippians 4:5-9   Fixing Blame

Philippians 4:6-7    How Long God, How Long?

Philippians 4:6-7  Fear and Fluttering Curtains

Philippians 4:8  What is Feeding Your Soul? 

Philippians 4:13  Fate or Destiny – You Decide

Colossians 3:12-15    Put on Compassion – Put on Love

Colossians 3:12   Embracing Humility

I Thessalonians 3:7, 9  Counting Blessings One By One

I Thessalonians 5:14   Creating Space to Listen

I Thessalonians 5:17   The Gifts of Prayer

I Thessalonians 5:18  Giving Thanks in the Difficult Times

I Thessalonians 5:18  Thanking God in the Midst of Turmoil

 I Timothy 2:1-3  The Incapacity of Washington to Govern  

I Timothy 1:7   Do School Shootings Have to be Inevitable?

I Timothy 2:1-3  Leadership in Trying Times

II Timothy 1:4   Face to Face

II Timothy 1:5   God’s Mother Like Love

II Timothy 4:7-8 Faith That Shapes Tomorrow – Living a Life Worth Remembering 

II Timothy 4:7-8   A Jimmy Carter Kinda of Christian

II Timothy 4:7    Finishing the Race

II Timothy 4:7-21   Come Before Winter

II Timothy 6:11-12  Changing Minds Without Wounding Hearts 

Hebrews 4:16  “It is Well With My Soul” A Journey of Grief and Grace 

Hebrews 11    Needing a Certificate of Martyrdom?
Hebrews 11:1  The Hand of Jesus Holding Us Up

Hebrews 12  Waymarks of the Journey

Hebrews 12:1 Pilgrims on a Journey

Hebrews 12:1   Blessed to Have Tarried With the Saints

Hebrews 12:1-2   Leaning on the Prayers of Friends

Hebrews 12:6   The Grace of Maturing in Faith

James 1:17  Every Good and Perfect Gift

James 1:22  One Act of Love at a Time

James 1:26  Learning to Speak in Love

James 2:13  The God Like Attribute of Mercy 

James 2:13  Mercy in Short Supply

James 2:14,17   The Long Wail of Lost Children

James 3:5-19   The Trauma of a Deceitful Tongue

James 3:17-18   Tragedy and the Price of Hatred

James 3:18  Peace is the Seedbed of Righteousness

James 5:7-8  A Season of Growth

I Peter 2:1-2   Disappearing Differences

I Peter 2:1-9   Windows of God’s Grace

I Peter 2:25  Guardian of Souls

I Peter 3:8-11  Planting Peace

I Peter 4:8 Difficult Relationships and the Four Minute Rule

I Peter 4:10  When Love Wears Human Hands – Beyond the Job Title 

I Peter 4:10    When Love Wears Human Hands

I Peter 5:7   Cast Your Cares on God

II Peter 1:16-18, 2:19 Witnessing the Holy :Light for a Murky World 

I John 2:9-10    Lent – Time for a Spiritual Checkup

I John 2:9-10  Christ’s Banquet Hall

I John 4:18 Will We Live Out Our Heritage as People of Faith or Will We Succumb to Fear

I John 4:18  Called to Love and Peace

I John 4:19  In a Divided World – Love Makes God Visible

I John 4:20-21  After the Assassination:  We Heal Only When We See Each Other 

I John 4:19-21   Walking with a Limp

I John 4:20  The Challenge of Loving Others

I John 4:20-21  Can We Listen to our Neighbor’s Story

I John 5:20-21   Wanted: Another Great Awakening 

Revelation 21:1-9  A Call to Courage and Integrity 

Revelation 21:4   When the Heart Bleeds

Revelation 21:1-7    On the Loss of a Sister

Revelation 21:6-7 Trusting God with Our Pain

Revelation 21:4-7   Comfort In God’s Everlasting Arms

Revelation 22:  Leaves of the Trees are for the Healing of Nations