LectioCast

He is risen indeed! Acts 10:34-43 The radical social practice of table fellowship: showing us how broad is God’s desire for communion with people. The gospel erases the boundary lines we otherwise see as normal and even critical for our survival.  Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 God is greater than … Read more about Resurrection of the Lord, with Jay Emerson Johnson #LectioCast

It’s time to follow Jesus to the cross: where God is absent, and the mission seems to fail. Except for those words from the centurion that turn the world upside down. Isaiah 50:4-9a The teacher is called to sustain the weary, even as he suffers the indignities of rejection. But shame is not the … Read more about Lent Week 6: Liturgy of the Passion #LectioCast

The darkness of death, and of Lent, cannot keep the resurrection light of Easter from shining. And when resurrection light shines, you know you’re seeing the glory of God. Ezekiel 37 The Great Zombiepocalypse is one of the most arresting scenes in the whole Bible. A beautiful mixture of … Read more about  Lent Week 5: Easter Rising #LectioCast

The scripture passages this week bring us into a world of light: of light that shines so that we can see. Or, perhaps, shows us how we have been seeing people without perceiving them rightly in more ways than we are comfortable admitting. Seeing the light and becoming the light means allowing Jesus … Read more about Lent Week 4: By Your Light We Become Light #LectioCast

In times of hunger and thirst, do we trust God to be present? Do we trust God to provide? Do we believe that this is the path to eternal life rather than a roadblock keeping us from it?  Genesis 17:1-7 The people grumble and test and complain. But only because they were worried about dying of … Read more about Lent Week 3: Is the Lord Present to Provide? #LectioCast

From Abram to Jesus to the inclusion of the Gentiles we are called into a story of utter dependence on God: trusting God to do for us what we would otherwise try to do for ourselves.  Genesis 12:1-4a Abram has to leave behind everything that should provide for him. God promises a blessing that is … Read more about Lent Week 2: Utter Dependence #LectioCast

Lent begins. And we are invited into the ancient practice of fasting. Fasting does not mean adding a new practice, but shedding a practice for the purpose of deepening our trust in God. The stories of Jesus and of Adam and Eve invite us to consider what sorts of props we have erected to hold … Read more about Lent Week 1: Fasting as Trust in God #LectioCast

God breaks into the present: with a glory that humans embody. The Lectionary sets us up with a series of interlocking texts that richly inform one another. Exodus 24:12 Moses goes up a mountain, as do Elijah and Jesus after him. God meets Moses in the cloud, and tabernacle and glory … Read more about Transfiguration Sunday: Up and Down the Mountain with Jeffrey Pugh #LectioCast

It’s a great week to get fired! So preach Leviticus 19 and tell people what it actually says.  Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18 We all know the command, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But what does that love look like? And how might that love manifest itself in subversion of the expectations of market … Read more about What Neighbor Love Looks Like with Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney #LectioCast

How does a Christian walk in the ways of God, loving God with heart, soul, mind, and strength? Do we do this by obeying the Law? Or by following Jesus? Or both? Deuteronomy 30:15-20 How is the Abrahamic covenant realized? How is the land possessed and the seed multiplied? Faithfulness to the … Read more about To Law or Not To Law, that is the Question #LectioCast

We are the light of the world. And the very things we do in service to God can be the darkness that obscures the light just as easily as the light that dispels the gloom. Isaiah 58:1-12 Don’t be hoodwinked by acts of piety that don’t bring life to your neighbor. Psalm 112:1-9 Celebrating … Read more about People of the Light #LectioCast

If you want to know what people expect of God, listen to what they think blessing looks like. Epiphany continues to challenge us to look for and recognize God in the places we spurn and despise—even though these are usually our own places. Matthew 5:1-12 Do we really aspire to the Kingdom … Read more about The God of the Upside Down Kingdom #LectioCast