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Mark 1:40-45
A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be...
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Communal Preaching
If I had room to add a subtitle to this post, it would be “I Don’t Know, Pt. 4.” In three earlier posts, I talked about the importance of admitting when we don’t know something because 1) when we don’t...
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Little Free Library
My kids and I came across this a few days ago while walking our dogs and thought it was both cute and cool. I mean, what a great idea: a little library right in your own neighborhood that encourages...
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In Praise of Church Camps
We’re spending this week at Outlaw Ranch Lutheran Camp, located in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota. I’ve been fortunate that over the years I’ve been invited to teach at a number of our...
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Philippians 2:1-2
If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being...
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Philippians 2:3-4
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. I’ll be honest – I...
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Philippians 4:11-14
Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I...
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An Unlikely Christmas Carol(er)
I love words. I love what you can do with words. I love playing with words, shaping ideas with them, communicating things that matter to me through them, and affecting the thoughts and feelings of...
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Beauty and Unexpected Gifts
I thought this short video was a perfect counter point to, or maybe extension, of yesterday’s post – and comments! – about beauty. Chris Heuertz has spent his life working with the poorest of the poor...
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Easter Gratitude: Recap and Review
So the Easter season is come and gone, and with it my attempt to practice gratitude by posting one thing for which I’m grateful each day. Now a few days into the season of Pentecost, I thought I’d...
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Luke 10:13-20
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But at the...
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Matthew 18:15-20
“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to,...
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Pentecost 19 B: Communities of the Broken and Blessed
Dear Partner in Preaching, Let me suggest a totally different way to approach this text. I’ve written it on it from the perspective of how Mark’s “divorce text” relates to questions of marriage before,...
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Pentecost 11 C: From Isolation to Community
Luke 12:13-21 Dear Partner in Preaching, What if this parable really isn’t about money? Or about wealth? Or about the need to give to the church? I know, I know, if that’s true, it robs this parable of...
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Pentecost A: With, not From
John 20:19-23, Acts 2:1-21, I Corinthians 12:3b-13 Dear Partner in Preaching, Have you ever noticed that the arrival of the Holy Spirit doesn’t remove the disciples from challenges and hardships, but...
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Easter 2 B: Holding Fast
John 20:19-31 Dear Partner in Preaching, My apologies for the lateness of this post. This week totally got away from me! So I’ll keep it short. Two brief ideas that perhaps fall together and complement...
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Pentecost 14 A: Community Rules
Matthew 18:15-20 Dear Partner in Preaching, I must confess that I think I’ve been misreading this Sunday’s passage from Matthew for, well, pretty much my whole life. J That’s likely because – another...
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