With all my soul

  What was Jesus doing in the first 30 years of life, until the day that he stood before Cousin John to be baptized?  We know more about Jesus from conception, through birth canal to being delivered in a manger than we know about his entire adult formation the following 30 years.  The art of the memoir did not … Continue reading Luke 3:15-22 “Called and Loved”

I think Luke’s Gospel should be considered the first Christmas pageant.  Luke’s first two chapters are governed by four great canticles, known by their Latin names: Starting with Mary’s Magnificat, followed by Zechariah’s Benedictus, where he celebrates the birth of his son John the Baptist.  Angels then sing Gloria in Excelsis to announce the birth of Jesus, and finally Simeon, … Continue reading Luke 1:39-56 “Luke’s Pageant”

How many times have you gone to church thinking, “I would really like to hear a sermon that begins with the words ‘You brood of vipers...?”  When you first read John the Baptist and his preaching about vipers, the axe is ready at the root of the tree, and all who do not bear fruit will be chopped down … Continue reading Luke 3:7-28 “John, the Thundering Pragmatist?”

Advent is a spiritual force we never see coming. We watch the news where history is apparently being made by politicians, generals, and CEOs, by sex scandals, drug dealers and mass shootings.  But off camera, a young woman is pregnant.  She will give birth to a baby and feed itwith her dreams and her breast … Continue reading Luke 3:1-6 “I Wasn’t Prepared for This!”

We often see what we want to see.  AbrahamMaslow is credited with coining the phrase, “If all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail.”  Another psychologist, Aaron Beck, realized that looking for negative things can be a contributing factor to depression.  Beck noticed that many of his clients had ingrained destructive thought patterns nearly … Continue reading Luke 21:25-36 “The Fig Promise”