Proper 20B (Mark 9:30-37) – 09/20/2009

Who is the greatest of all? The debate involved with that question never seems to lose our interest and we enjoy granting the title to many different people. We proclaim the Greatest Mom and the Greatest Dad so often that these titles can be obtained on coffee mugs (ordered on the internet with 24 hour shipping!). We declare certain sports teams the Greatest of their generation and Muhammad Ali was the self-proclaimed Greatest of all time! We must acknowledge that any example of someone declared “the greatest” in their field requires us to consider their contributions using a particular formula. Continue reading →

Proper 18B (James 2:1-17) – 09/06/2009

As I have read and reflected on our Scripture readings throughout the week, I have been very mindful that today is the middle of the Labor Day weekend. Tomorrow is the day selected to remember the work that we do throughout the year. With this day in the back of my mind, the epistle reading from James seemed to contain some rather timely advice for us to consider. The message of our reading from James is that our work matters; our actions matter in our daily lives as followers of Christ. Continue reading →