Readings: Isaiah 43: 16-21; Philippians 3: 8-14; John 8: 1-11 Preacher: Margot VanEtten This Gospel story tells us something marvelous about God. Something we all need to hear, especially now—each of us individually and all of us together as a community. This is more than just another tale of Jesus vs. the Pharisees: today brings things to a whole new level.… read more →
Readings: Joshua 5: 9a, 10-12; 2 Corinthians 5: 17-21; Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32 Preacher: Gloria Ulterino The other night, on the nightly news, Judy Woodruff was interviewing the Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States. She was so inspiring! Revealing an understanding of our world and its conflicts. Passionately advocating for her people. Yet, at the same time, carefully trying not… read more →
Readings: Exodus 3:1-8a,13-15; 1 Corinthians 10:1-6.10-12; Luke 13:1-9 Preacher: Dierdre McKiernan Hetzler In our first reading, Moses’ encounter with a burning bush becomes a life-changing event. The God of this bush is a compassionate God. Having heard the Israelites’ cries of complaint, God is ready to rescue them. And God reveals a closeness to God’s people: “I know well what they… read more →
Readings: Genesis 15: 5-12, 17-18; Philippians 3: 17- 4:1; Luke 9: 28b-36 Preacher: Nancy J. DeRycke Remember times in your life, growing up or as an adult when you needed a “guiding light?” In this Transfiguration story that we hear every 2nd Sunday of Lent, Jesus goes up the mountain to pray, to sort things out as he struggles with the… read more →
Readings: Dueteronomy 26:4-10; Romans 10: 8-13; Luke 4: 1-13 Preacher: Sr. Joan Sobala Who is this Satan, anyway? In today’s Gospel, Jesus recognizes Satan for who he is, but in our daily lives, we don’t … or at least we don’t easily recognize Satan for who he is. The Evil One (a.k.a. Satan, the Adversary) is present wherever people and cultures… read more →
Readings: Sirach 27: 4-7; 1 Corinthians 15: 54-58; Luke 6: 39-45 Preacher: Lourdes Perez-Albuerne In today’s gospel reading, Luke gives us a number of sapiential sayings, which are familiar, but that on Jesus’ lips point to what God expects from us. These sayings also remind us that God’s expectations do not contradict common sense or human reasoning, but instead, perfect them… read more →
Readings: 1 Samuel 26: 2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23; 1 Corinthians 15: 45-49; Luke 6: 27-38 Preacher: Susan K. Roll Oh gee, could this be any more of a tall order? What was Jesus thinking? Does he even live in the real world? This Sunday’s Gospel picks up from last week’s and takes the “Sermon on the Level Place,” or Sermon on… read more →
Readings: Jeremiah 17: 5-8; 1 Corinthians 15: 12, 16-20; Luke 6: 17, 20-26 Preacher: Deni Mack My mother’s father, John Monaghan, at age fourteen, promised his father on his deathbed, to educate his sisters. He was a blessing to his poor family as he worked to support them. No longer poor, his sisters Kate and Mary blessed hundreds of New York… read more →
Readings: Isaiah 6: 1-2a, 3-8; 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11; Luke 5: 1-11 Preacher: Margot Van Etten What do you do when you come face to face with God? Isaiah, Peter and Paul are unanimous: “I am unworthy!” Isaiah despairs. Peter says, “Go away.” Paul still, decades later, declares himself least worthy of those called to be apostles. (Killing Christians does not… read more →
Readings: Jeremiah 1: 4-5, 17-19; 1 Corinthians 12: 31-13:13; Luke 4: 21-30 Preacher: Patrick Fox As we are in the early days of our walk through Ordinary Time I find it interesting that either of the two allowed readings today from 1 Corinthians present us with the words that the Corinthians heard, “Love is…” I have often used this section of… read more →