Fourth Sunday in Lent (Year 1, NL)

When the true master returned, he found Douglass using his gifts for justice.

The Bible, so often used as enslaved people’s yoke, became their cry for freedom.

This master's ways are celebrated by the world, not by Jesus.

The last are certainly not first in this story.

Once the servant digs the hole, is there any way out?

Everybody dies. My mother-in-law intended to be ready.

Some parables sound like bad jokes.

Even the wise bridesmaids have limited vision.

I understand the story better now than when I was I kid, but I still have the feeling that the foolish virgins were framed.

The point isn't the money; it's the risk.

Public ritual might be construed as a benign relic, as imperialism, or as marketing. Or it might be seen as a form of pilgrimage.

A lot of people didn't like Tony Perkins' CNN Belief Blog post last week, and rightly so. Jesus was a free marketer, long before the concept was developed? Sure, if you say so.

When I preach, I am absorbed in faces. I'm captured by the sustained opportunity preaching creates to gaze into the faces of those I am seeking to serve as a pastor. In worship, it seems more obvious that others are seeing me. In fact, I am truly seeing them. I see and absorb all kinds of things about people during these moments of proclamation. The most profound observation is also the most obvious: they are a gift.

Every pastor needs to address the issue of freedom and accountability. It's part of the pastor's role in nurturing a church community: neither a laissez-faire atmosphere nor a judicial one helps people grow as disciples.