Matthew 15:21-28                                                                                                          “Crumbs” $43.02.  Forty-three dollars and two cents.  That’s all.  Undoubtedly there are some who are listening right now who have that amount of cash in their wallets as I speak.  It’s cash on hand, change even, for most of us.  In fact, just recently I needed to break a $50 bill.  It […]

Matthew 14:22-33                                                            “The Time In-Between”  “He went up the mountain by himself to pray.”  Just half a verse, easily missed.  Jesus sent his disciples away, literally put them in a boat so they couldn’t interrupt him, and headed to the mountains to be alone with God, if just for one night.  This moment of self-care is […]

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52                                                                                                “To Seek” A mustard seed; yeast mixed in flour; a hidden treasure; a pearl; good fish…the Kingdom of Heaven is like…             In this extraordinary series of parables, one right after another, Jesus is attempting to describe to the people what the Kingdom of Heaven is like and how it exists.  He uses parables because […]

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43                                                   ‘The Problem of Evil’ I want to talk today about the problem of evil.  A heavy, exhausting topic I know.  But, in my honest reading of the scripture for today, there is no other place to go.  As an aside, I was lamenting earlier this week that I wish the texts for the summer months were […]

Matthew 13:1-9                                                                “To Sow and Cultivate” I want to start by saying, somewhere along the way, probably in seminary, I was told that no preacher preaches a sermon that she does not need to hear herself.  That has always rang true for me, though I usually don’t realize it until I am literally standing and preaching that […]

Exodus 15:22-27                                                                          “God’s Promise” When we think about the Exodus story, we often think about wilderness.  Moses, answering an unexpected and unwanted call from God, led the Israelite people out into the desert, wandering for 40 years until they could find freedom from their slavery in Egypt.  The Exodus story is full of important, foundational stories for all […]