All Posts for March, 2009

Blogging Toward Sunday

Take a donkey

Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 118:1-2,19-29; Mark 11:1-11; Hebrews 5:5-10

Mar 30, 2009 by Donna Schaper

Architect Lewis Mumford argued that the beauty of a particular house comes from building it on the most challenging feature of the land. If there is a depression in the land, says Mumford, use it. If a big boulder lies in the middle of the spot where the kitchen should go, put the boulder in the kitchen.

Blogging Toward Sunday

Practicing dying

Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51:1-12; John 12:20-33; Hebrews 5:5-10

Mar 23, 2009 by Russell Rathbun

While Easter celebrates the event that made death nontoxic, Lent contemplates death. We are called to reflect on our death-making behavior and on the suffering of others.

Blogging Toward Sunday

The gospel vs. self-reliance

Numbers 21:4-9; John 3:14-21; Ephesians 2:1-10

Mar 16, 2009 by Nadia Bolz-Weber

Both the gospel and the epistle for this week include passages that are almost annoyingly familiar. There's John 3:16, memory verse par excellence, and Ephesians 2:8-9, the battle cry of the Reformation:

Blogging Toward Sunday

Whipping US into shape?

Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; John 2:13-22; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Mar 09, 2009 by Tom Johnson

Our gospel lesson comes just after the story of Jesus' first "sign": turning the gallons of water intended for purification rites into the wine that reveals his glory. This week's story features more contrast and conflict, this time centered on another key Jewish institution: the temple.

In the World

Voting alone

Mar 03, 2009 by Steve Thorngate

I voted this morning.

I live in the fifth congressional district of Illinois, which Rahm Emanuel represented until he joined the merry band of Chicagoans now running the country. So we're having a special election to replace him, and the primary is today.

Blogging Toward Sunday

Life lost and found

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Mark 8:31-38; Romans 4:13-25

Mar 02, 2009 by Scott M. Kershner

It always takes time to get my bearings when I jump into a week's lectionary texts, because I'm wading into a story that's already underway. A week and a half into Lent, we're in Mark 8 and Jesus is well into his ministry. He has fed the multitudes, twice. He has called and sent out his 12 disciples. He has preached and healed, and he's beginning to turn toward Jerusalem.