Do you feel burdened? The writers of our epistle and gospel want to know. “You remember our labor and toil, brothers and sisters; we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God,” Paul says. Jesus speaks of the scribes and Pharisees,…

I wonder if anyone of us knows the kind of people that Jesus is talking about today. Clarence Jordan, in his Cotton Patch Gospel series, presents today’s reading from Matthew like this: “Don’t let yourselves be called ‘Reverend,’ for you have the one pastor and you are all brothers. And don’t call any human being…

One way to approach scripture is by asking ourselves two questions. “What’s going on here?” is the first. It forces us to delve a little deeper, to see if we can get a handle on the passage in question and really understand it. The second question is “What does that mean for us?” This question…

The annual stewardship season is fast coming to a close. We will be making decisions on how we share the gifts that God has given us with our church, and in other ways that touch lives and causes that are special interests of ours. We most often consider what we do based on our financial…

One of the best-selling verses in the Bible these days is the following: And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain.” So…

You are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren. He who is greatest among you shall be your servant. For whatever reason, those who organized our lectionary readings for Sunday mornings have too often cut a passage short, often resulting in making it impossible to truly understand…

“Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach.’” Or, in the more familiar version of this, “Practice what you preach.” In…