Reflections for

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Aug 02, 2015

2 Samuel 11:26 - 12:13a; Psalm 51:1-12; (Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15; Psalm 78:23-29;) Ephesians 4:1-16; John 6:24-35

Cover Story

Go fast and live

Hunger as spiritual discipline

Feb 28, 2001 by Mark Buchanan

Recently some huge billboards along British Columbia’s major roadways showed black-and-white photos of car wrecks—gashed and mangled metal, clouds of steam and smoke—all illumined under the luridness of fire, flares, searchlights and siren lights. The caption beneath the ads was as stark and grim as the photos: “Speed is killing us. Slow down and live.”

Living by the Word

Hungry for more

Sunday, August 6

Exodus 16:2-4,9-15; John 6:24-35

Jul 19, 2000 by H. Stephen Shoemaker

As Jesus speaks and acts in John’s Gospel, the people hear him at one level while he seeks to move them to a deeper level. When Jesus feeds the 5,000, for example, the crowd, stomachs filled, rushes to make him king. Jesus flees. God wants the hungry fed, but there is a deeper hunger and a better bread.

Living by the Word

Regeneration

Psalm 51

Mar 22, 2000 by Samuel Wells

The one who voices Psalm 51 is on the floor before God, utterly ashamed and as dust before glory: “My sin is ever before me.” The symptoms of sin are gradually displaced by the greater reality of God: “Against you, you alone, have I sinned.” The speaker does not look outside for an oppressor to blame, but inside, to the “inward being,” for a heart to be renewed.

Features

Telling details

No safe parts in scripture

Sep 08, 1999 by Peter John Santucci

"Avoid abstraction," I was told as I prepared to speak to a group of junior high school students. "Seventh graders are still mostly concrete thinkers." The story of David seemed absolutely nonabstract and concrete, so I decided to use it as the basis of my talks.

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Revised Common Lectionary © 1992 the Consultation on Common Texts. Used by permission.