[RCL] Isaiah 40:21-31; Psalm 147:1-12, 21c; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23; Mark 1:29-39 Some Sundays, the lectionary readings seem to fit together better than other Sundays. Some Sundays, a coherent theme practically jumps from scriptures’ pages into our laps. On others, searching for it seems to require a magnifying glass and a fine-toothed comb. Perhaps what is…

[RCL] Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 111; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28 The gospel, on this fourth Sunday in the season of Epiphany, plunges us into the acts and words of one who speaks with authority. The light of Epiphany shines today on the character of the one sent from God. The evangelist Mark zeroes in on…

[RCL] Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Psalm 62:6-14; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20 “Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed him.” That’s all we get in today’s Gospel lesson to describe how Jesus called his first disciples and how they responded. That’s…

[RCL] 1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20); Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; John 1:43-51 This sermon, written by the Rev. Curtis Farr, originally ran for Epiphany 2 (B) in 2018. In Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s classic work The Little Prince, the narrator is a pilot who crash lands his plane in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Miles…

[RCL] Genesis 1:1-5; Psalm 29; Acts 19:1-7; Mark 1:4-11 Each of the four Gospels begins in their own unique manner. Matthew, for example, embarks from the very first verse on a lengthy genealogy of Jesus, tracing his Jewish lineage all the way back to Abraham. Luke, by contrast, begins with an introduction that reads like…