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Tag Archives: Luke
Seeing Others As Zeros (Luke 18:9)
Years ago, there was a certain band-director who was known for building a winning program, no matter what it took. One tactic he used was to take coat hangers and shape them into a circle, with the hangar part made … Continue reading
Posted in Lection Reflections
Tagged lection, Lectionary, Luke, Pharisee, self-righteous
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Stop Being So Damn Needy!
(a Lection Reflection on Luke 14) There’s a great scene in Stephen King’s memoir On Writing where he describes an incident between himself and his wife Tabitha, who is also an accomplished author in her own right. They were taking … Continue reading
Are We Part of the Oppression?
OK, let’s cut to the chase. This week’s lections have two readings that present an easy-peasy contrast: Isaiah 58 and Luke 13. The Isaiah passage addresses religious people who act out the stage play of their religion (holding fasts), but … Continue reading
Are You Wealthy Toward God?
(a Lection Reflection on Luke 12: 13-21) There’s an old joke about sermon writing that references “three points and a poem.” If you’re working on a sermon, I don’t have a poem for you — although there are some on … Continue reading
Are You That Guy?
I love reading spy thrillers. I like following all the plots and characters, I like the suspense, I like the twists and turns of the story. And, I like a good hero. Why? Because I imagine myself as the hero. … Continue reading
Is Your Pride Godly?
(A Lection Reflection on Luke 10 and Galatians 6) If you were to plan a sermon on pride in most churches, the thought bubbles above the listeners would look like this: “Pride. Root of the seven deadly sins. God hates … Continue reading
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Tagged Galatians, lection, Lectionary, Luke, Paul, pride
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Asking God to Leave … and to Stay
Let me ask you an obvious question: do you pray in your church services? OK, too easy. Here’s a tougher one: do you expect anything to happen? And here’s the toughest one: what if something happened, and it seemed to … Continue reading
Palm Sunday Cynics
(A Lection Reflection on Luke 19: 28-40) Fickle. Disloyal. Unreliable. I’ve heard my fair share of sermons and devotionals that use such terms to describe the Palm Sunday crowd. You have too. I call them Palm Sunday Cynics. “Here they … Continue reading
Hard Truths
(A Lection Reflection on Luke 13:1-9) Many years ago, I heard an important truth: Do not turn a parable into an allegory. I suspect that I violated that rule in an earlier essay I wrote on the Fig Tree and … Continue reading