Today’s appointed gospel reading does us no favors. Upon reading it, I immediately regretted not having Vicar Paisley preach. You see, today’s reading is a part of what scholars call “the Sermon on the Plain” and part of the reading includes Luke’s version of the beatitudes. Unlike the gospel of Matthew, Luke doesn’t spiritualize the beatitudes. What is “blessed are you who are poor” here in Luke, is read as “blessed are the poor in spirit” in Matthew. Luke is blunt, and Matthew makes it a bit more palatable. So, to find a way out from Luke’s words, I read scholar-after-scholar’s take, I opened up bible commentaries, and I went deep into some dusty books from seminary to find a way out –any way out...

Today’s gospel reading is a short exchange between Jesus and Judean people who believed in him. One of the stand-out phrases is, “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” It’s a simple formula: if you know truth, then you find freedom. But, is it really all that easy? After all, in an era with access to information and expert opinions literally in our hands, you’d think that we would know the truth. But, in my experience, truth can be elusive. As a people, we have trouble recognizing fact-based truths from alternative facts. We have problems discerning between clickbait and real news. With an abundance of sources at our fingertips, who has time to sort through it all? The more simplistic option is to either grasp onto the source that aligns with our perspective or the one that ignites our emotion...

There are some people who are fountains of proverbial expressions. That is, proverbs of various genera flow from their mouths with ease. They spout off phrases like, “a watched pot never boils,” or, “all’s fair in love and war,” or, my mother’s go-to “better safe than sorry.” And it was another one of my mother’s favorite proverbs that immediately came to mind when I heard today’s parable, namely, “the squeaky wheel gets the oil.” Have any of you ever heard that before? Basically, it’s about how the most noticeable or loudest problems are most likely to get attention...

Vicar Paisley preached without a manuscript this week. Listen to her sermon here.

Vicar Paisley preached without a manuscript. You can listen to her sermon above.

Last week, in the first part of the “Learn the Liturgy” series, I mentioned that the scriptures invite us into the stories. As we conclude this two-part series with another short sermon, we’re offered a parable that exposes the many facets of our existence...

Today’s gospel is one of the more mysterious parables. Yet, the final sentence gives us a glimpse of the difficult truth, namely, that we cannot serve God and wealth...

I’ve often been intrigued by “traditional family values.” I hear religious and political leaders claiming “traditional family values” to bless their pursuit of specific policies, practices, and beliefs. While “traditional family values” may vary from person to person, many ascribe to an optimistic and, generally, never-realized set of values originating in the 1950s. These values sometimes include a strong emphasis on opposite-sex marriage, personal responsibility, and protections for a fetus...