Luke 6:1-16                 The Sabbath is an important commandment. It sets the weekly calendar, and ends up being the day around which the world revolves, and the cycle of life. The Sabbath is a day to calculate around, plan off of, and always be aware of. This is the day that Jesus gets in trouble on and for.      By now,…

Luke 5:1-11                    Jesus goes out in a boat. He goes out in a boat because there are so many people who want to hear his teaching. So he gets in Simon’s boat, and pushes back from the shore. He teaches, and when he’s done, he tells Simon where to fish. Simon tells Jesus that they’ve been trying that. As a…

Luke 4:14-30                                           Jesus comes back to Nazareth, preaches and is not well received. There’s a lot of human behavior happening here. There’s the inability to imagine God being right here, or a small town boy done that good. There’s a fear of God getting this close. There’s an assumption of arrogance.            Jesus has a response for all of it…

Luke 3:1-22             John baptizes, bear fruit worthy of repentance, share what you have. Note – this sermon was preached the week of the insurrection and coup attempt at the US Capitol building.            John the Baptist is a neat character. He’s related to the Messiah, and is in the same line of work. On a certain level, John is the last…

Luke 2:41-52 This is an interesting passage. Often we look at how bad the parenting of Mary and Joseph is that they lost their kid for three days, or how snarky tween-age Jesus was. It is one of the few Scriptural stories of Jesus we have between his birth and infancy and his adult ministry. It provides a unique view into the…

Granger explores the meeting of Ann and Simeon and the Christ child.

Luke 1:26-45 [46-56]     Announcement of Jesus’ birth to Mary; he will receive the throne of David. Much of the Old Testament contains stories about women and children. We remember the stories of women who did not have children, and who could not have children, until God intervened. We remember Sarah, and Rachel, and Hannah. We remember that the promises of God…

Isaiah 61:1-11       The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to bring good news, liberty, and to make an everlasting covenant.

Joel 2:12-13, 28-29    Turn to a merciful God, promise of the Spirit. As we look at our world, as we have throughout this year, and even decade, or maybe century, we often wonder along with the Psalmist, “How long, O Lord?” At times, we wonder how long God will put up with us, or if not us, them. Joel, on the…

Daniel 6:6-27     Daniel in the lions’ den; deliverance; God’s kingdom shall never be destroyed. Daniel is perhaps most famous for this passage. It is one we learn as children. It has drama, and excitement, and lions. We may also remember Daniel and the fiery furnace, or Daniel and his weird dreams/visions. These are the high points of the stories – the…