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Luke 2:22-35 One of my favorite Bible characters is Simeon, a veteran third-rank and part-time priest serving in the Temple of Jerusalen.  Simeon – no last name known—was in the Temple the day Mary and Joseph brought babe Jesus there for the first time. But before we talk about Simeon, let me tell you why […]

Isaiah 60:1-6;   Matthew 2:1-12 Several centuries before this extraordinary story in the Gospel of Matthew, prophet Isaiah had dreamed about a magnificent gathering of multitudes of joyful people and caravans of “young” camels from far away arriving in the Holy Land with gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the Lord. Both for Isaiah

I’ll never forget my very last seminary class on Preaching. That final class was supposed to be a relaxed and relaxing, collegial, festive time to review and celebrate with our Preaching professor all we had learned that final semester. We were not anxious at all — we had even left our Bibles at home. Imagine

Luke 2:1-7 The Christmas story in the Gospel tells us that babe Jesus was born in a manger because there was no room in the inn. Now, have you ever wondered whether it was true that there was no room in the inn? Maybe there was room at the inn –maybe the innkeeper had a

Luke 1:39-56 Mary and Joseph are two of the most fascinating people in the Gospel. Fascinating, yes, intensely fascinating when you consider the place that such a low status “handmaiden” and such a low status “carpenter” would end up having in the Christian story of salvation. Today I’d like to talk a little bit about

Isaiah 40:28-31;  Luke 12:35-40 One of my favorite plays is Waiting for Godot, by the Irish playwriter Samuel Beckett. Published in 1948, the year I was born, this play basically argues that humanity is waiting for “Godot,” a Messiah-like reality that could fix everything that went wrong, yet Godot never shows up. The three characters

2 Corinthians 8:1-12;  Matthew 6:19-21 You certainly know how much I enjoy cookies –but did you know that I also enjoy oxymorons? Yes, oxymorons –when you put two words together that are complete opposites and contradict each other, like “clearly confused,” “open secret,” “jumbo shrimp,” “friendly fire,” “pretty ugly”? I believe it was a radiant

Philippians 4:8-9;  Matthew 11:28-30 Just in case you noticed my baggy eyes this morning, let me tell you – this has been a rough week for me. First, our Church annual meeting on Monday, via zoom, never happened – the presiding elder got the time wrong, so we were all gone by the time he

Matthew 25:14-20;  Philippians 1:3-6   You may have heard of Rev. Maxie Dunnam, a United Methodist preacher well-known for his passion for evangelism and his inspirational books. I met Rev. Dunnam at one of our Bishop’s retreats for the pastors of the New York Conference many years ago, and I’ll never forget his superb stories

Romans 12 (selection);  Mark 1:1-15 (selection)   I saw a cartoon recently where two men were sitting on a park bench — neither one is saying anything for several frames, then one man lets out a sigh. The other guy gets up and mutters, “Well, if you’re going to talk politics, I’m out of here!”