The Festival of St. Luke Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago For the festival of St. Luke, on which we celebrate the relation between faith and health, let me begin with a story. In the beginning, God was like an unhappy farmer. The world looked like Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl. The earth, covered with red dust (in […]
Proper 23B-21 Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago A young man runs to Jesus, kneels at his feet, and asks: “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17). Jesus ‘looked at him and loved him.’ This is the only time in Mark’s gospel where Jesus is said to “love” someone. It’s little wonder, this […]
Proper 22B-21 Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago Fall is beautiful in Chicago. I think it’s my favorite season. My mom texted pictures of fall colors from her back yard in Colorado this week. Here the trees have just a touch of yellow and red the first sentinels of change. The colors signal change is coming. The colors […]
Proper 21B-21 Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago Jesus said, “Whoever is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:40). Yet this gospel makes me uncomfortable. Unfortunately, these verses have a long and cruel history of literal application. How many hands were cut off, how many feet? How many eyes were plucked out? How many drowned? Who among […]
Proper 20B-21 Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” (Mark 9:37). Today, we are blessed by 18 youth who are going to the ELCA national gathering next summer. We give thanks that tutoring resumes tomorrow night for […]
Proper 19B-21 Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago “Who do people say that I am?” (Mark 8:27). Jesus questioned the disciples as they walked toward Caesarea Philippi. The area was well known for its dedication to the Roman nature-god, Pan; and for honoring Caesar who was often regarded as divine. Jesus asked them in public as they walked […]
Proper 18B-21 Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago The gospel is an English translation of a Greek text written about a man who never wrote down anything but who spoke and taught in a third language called, Aramaic. We have here, in our scriptures, what they remembered, what they could not forget, about Jesus. Only a few precious […]
Proper 17B-21 Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” We rely upon mirrors every day, and unfortunately, like the evil queen in the 1812 Brothers Grimm fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, mostly they remind us that the answer to this famous question is ‘not […]
Proper 16B-21 Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago August 22, 2021 “Who am I? Why am I here?” (Vice Admiral Jim Stockdale, Vice-President Debate, 1992). Vice Admiral Jim Stockdale sounded a little like Rumpelstiltskin waking up from a long nap. He was one of the most highly decorated officers in U.S. Navy history. Ross Perot chose him to […]
Mary, Mother of our Lord-21 Immanuel Lutheran, Chicago Mary, Mother of our Lord. The Queen of Heaven. Our Lady of Quadalupe. Theotokos, the God-bearer. So much is layered upon Mary. Medieval and Renaissance paintings depict her holding court, surrounded by admiring angel attendants while caring for Jesus in fine a European castle. We must be […]