Adventurous Lectionary – Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost – September 25, 2022

Last updated on: September 19, 2022 at 10:54 am By Bruce Epperly

The Adventurous Lectionary – Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost – September 25, 2022 Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15, Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16, 1 Timothy 6:6-19 , Luke 16:19-31 Today’s readings could be described by the South African phrase, “ubuntu” or “I am because of you” or “we are because of one another.” In the context of rising social, economic, and racial divisions, and the normalization of hate speech by political leaders and heartlessness in governmental decision-making, ubuntu proclaims the essential unity of life and... Read more

Adventurous Lectionary – Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost – September 18, 2022

Last updated on: September 11, 2022 at 11:18 am By Bruce Epperly

The Adventurous Lectionary – The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost – September 18, 2022 Jeremiah 8:18-9:1, Psalm 79:1-9, 1 Timothy 2:1-7; Luke 16:1-13 If you’re looking for a good time from the pulpit, you may want to stay home and go for a hike or watch football this Sunday or opt out of preaching. At first glance, there may be a lot of adventure but there is not a lot of joy in this Sunday’s lectionary readings. The scriptures seem appropriate... Read more

The Adventurous Lectionary -The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost – September 11, 2022

Last updated on: September 4, 2022 at 9:13 am By Bruce Epperly

The Adventurous Lectionary -The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost – September 11, 2022 Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28 Psalm 14 I Timothy 1:12-17 Luke 15:1-10 Today’s readings speak of sin and salvation, and being lost and finding your way home. They join institutional injustice and idolatry, the healing of persons and nations. Nations as well as persons can be lost and ours is a time of directionless and chaotic political leadership and polarization in the body politic, of rising fascism and white nationalism,... Read more

Adventurous Lectionary – The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost – September 4, 2022

Last updated on: August 27, 2022 at 6:12 pm By Bruce Epperly

The Adventurous Lectionary – September 4, 2022 – Pentecost 13 Jeremiah 18:1-11 Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 Philemon 1:1-21 Luke 14:25-33 Today’s readings challenge, economics, and socially-accepted values. These texts turn our accepted values upside down and call us to repentance and sacrificial living. No preacher can feel entirely comfortable reading, writing, or preaching these texts. In some ways, the images of God are both engaging (Psalm 139) and challenging and problematic. (Jeremiah 18) Jeremiah’s vision of the divine potter is both... Read more

Adventurous Lectionary – The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost – August 21, 2022

Last updated on: August 15, 2022 at 12:33 pm By Bruce Epperly

The Adventurous Lectionary – Pentecost 11 – August 21,2022 Jeremiah 1:4-10 Psalm 71:1-6 Hebrews 12:18-29 Luke 13:10-17 This week, we ponder God’s providential love that breaks through every barrier and challenges the limitations we place on our abilities and God’s gifts in our lives. God is willing to give us more than we can ask or imagine. We need to open our hearts, minds, and hands to receive the fullness of divine blessing for ourselves and others. This week, we... Read more

Adventurous Lectionary – Pentecost 10 – August 14, 2022

Last updated on: August 7, 2022 at 6:02 pm By Bruce Epperly

The Adventurous Lectionary – The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost – August 14, 2022 Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19; Hebrews 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56 Today’s passages on Israel, the Jewish community of the first century, and the twenty-first century USA? Election results suggest a national divide – Kansas votes to support reproductive rights, while Arizona chooses election-deniers and prevaricators in its Republican primary? Dishonesty and divisiveness seem to be the first and second commandments of many white Christians involved in politics? Can... Read more

Hiroshima Day Meditation (August 6): Dusting Off the Doomsday Clock

Last updated on: August 6, 2022 at 7:17 am By Bruce Epperly

This morning, I began the day remembering a day that changed everything – the dropping of the first nuclear bomb on a populated area, Hiroshima, Japan. I ponder how little we seem to have learned in the past 77 years. We still live under the threat of Mutually Assured Destruction and act as if the MAD-ness of that “peacekeeping” deterrence is normal. We shiver when the leaders of North Korea and Russia suggest that they might use nuclear weapons to... Read more

Adventurous Lectionary – Ninth Sunday after Pentecost – August 7, 2022

Last updated on: July 31, 2022 at 1:43 pm By Bruce Epperly

The Adventurous Lectionary – The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost – August 7, 2022 Isaiah 1:1, 10-20; Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23; Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16; Luke 12:22-30 Now is the time for change. Now is the time to get our spiritual and ethical house in order and our values in line. The time is coming when values and actions, our relationship with God and neighbor, will go trump financial success, secular power, or material consumption. God invites us to be the change we... Read more

The Adventurous Lectionary – Eighth Sunday after Pentecost – August 7, 2022

Last updated on: July 25, 2022 at 8:24 am By Bruce Epperly

The Adventurous Lectionary – The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost – August 7, 2022 Hosea 11:1-11 Psalm 107:1-9, 43 Colossians 3:1-11 Luke 12:13-21 This Sunday we encounter the possibility of prophetic healing, the call to moral stature, and the challenges of wealth in the spiritual life. There are at least three sermons embedded in these lectionary readings. Hosea the prophetic challenges us to ask: Is God apathetic or passionate? Is God beyond concern for this world and its waywardness or does... Read more