| Listen as guest preacher Rev. Craig Endicott explores this week’s Gospel, on the second Sunday of Advent. |
Accompanying Scripture:
Luke 1: 24-25, Isaiah 40:1-11
| Jesus is alive! What wonderful news! Except that the rest of the world hasn’t caught up. There are still reasons – then and now – to be happy and scared, doubting and confident, nervous and at peace, and every other emotion. Jesus comes to help friends and followers to be fully alive with him. Alleluia! |
Accompanying Scripture:
Acts 2:14a, 22-32; John 20:19-31
| What we hear today is great news. Yet, “fear” is mentioned four times in the telling of the story. What is so scary about resurrection? Change, even when it gives us wings, IS scary… and exciting. |
Accompanying Scripture:
Acts 10:34-4; Matthew 28:1-10
| Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem becomes a populist coronation parade. But when the parade ends the streets are a mess, literally and figuratively. On Palm Sunday, we relive the last days of Jesus earthly life again… and are reminded we get to live again with him now. |
Accompanying Scripture:
Isaiah 50:4-9a; Matthew 27:11-54
| They’re Jesus’ closest friends and he disappoints them. They had faith and lost it. If you haven’t been there, it’s only because you haven’t lived long enough or paid enough attention. Life – and death – are beautiful, bewildering, and hard… let’s not do them alone. |
Accompanying Scripture:
Ezekiel 37:1-14; John 11:1-45
| How did you do on your last eye exam? Jesus meets a man with a disability (blindness) and – without talking to him – heals him. Was the man surprised by what Jesus did to/for him and what he saw afterward? Perhaps he was surprised… and not necessarily pleasantly! How often do we, conveniently, hang onto our myopia? |
Accompanying Scripture:
1 Samuel 16:1-13; John 9:1-41
| Jesus meets a woman whose life has been anything but ordinary or easy. They have a conversation that is anything but easy or ordinary. She shares that conversation with her neighbors, and nothing is ordinary or easy again. That’s what living water does: makes life extraordinary… and uneasy. |
Accompanying Scripture:
Exodus 17:1-7; John 4:5-42
| A very smart and curious man, Nicodemus, is in the dark about who Jesus is and what Jesus is teaching. Their conversation is confusing to Nicodemus… and to countless generations since then. My take? Blessed are the ignorant, for they shall become learners and leaders. And… woe to those who know enough to be dangerous. |
Accompanying Scripture:
Genesis 12:1-4a; John 3:1-17
| We live in a goal-oriented culture that wants to have every question answered and to know the cost and end-result of everything before anything is decided. Three of Jesus’ students go on the most puzzling field trip we could imagine and all they’re told is, “Be quiet and listen!” Good advice! |
Accompanying Scripture:
Exodus 24:12-18; Matthew 17:1-9
| Both readings this week are tough. Moses gives the newly-freed Israelites dozens and dozens of commandments (some are pretty picky) and tells them that their entire future depends on obedience. Jesus makes Moses look soft compared to the requirements he has to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Does he REALLY mean we have to be perfect? |
Accompanying Scripture:
Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Matthew 5:21-37
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