Today is traditionally called Good Shepherd Sunday. We’ve got a slew of shepherd, sheep, and gate metaphors in our readings today. And I think most of them are lost on the majority of us, as we tend to value innovation, technology, and industry more than sheep. We don’t learn much about sheep or shepherding in school. But then again, it seems that the Pharisees didn’t either – just look
Sermons
“My Lord and my God!” I’ve always loved this story about Thomas – particularly because truth be told, I think I’d be the one right with Thomas asking to see proof. Having started my post-high school education with a degree in electrical engineering, my brain is wired to want to see the proof, the results, the data. And then, in obtaining my Master’s degree in education, I had to
We’re here in this uncertain time and place, searching for signs of hope, as people of hope, together. Alleluia! Easter isn’t just a day. It is a whole season. It is 50 days of practicing hope. But often our lives and communities and world don’t reflect the same Easter joy. We can relate more to the rejection of Maundy Thursday when Jesus is betrayed by his friend. Or maybe you relate
This week’s theme from the Lenten Study is “Blessed are those who mourn” and next week’s for Holy Week is “Blessed are those who are rejected.” Holy Week is a slow and steady march toward the cross. Because we know the end of the story (Easter! Resurrection! Hope! New Life!), it can be tempting to skip to the good part. But let us instead be like the women at the foot of the cross who
This week’s theme from the Lenten Study is “Blessed are those who feel alone.” As Jesus teaches us in Matthew 5:4, “blessed are those who mourn.” Yet who would choose that kind of blessing? There are so many ways that we might mourn. Dreams that may never become a reality. Children we will never have. Perhaps a childhood that was so traumatic that we never got to be a kid. Some grieve