Luke 9:27-36 Listen to him. Though we are shaped by social, cultural, and economic pressures that tell us we must ascend, if we listen, if we set aside our own noise, we hear words of grace. A word that tells us God will not be confined to the mountain-top, theology, or Law. A word that tells us God is present with us now, in this sanctuary, in our homes, in the places we feel most alone. God has come down, dwelling among us in flesh and blood, a holy and living tabernacle, and is not set apart ...
Feb 27, 2022•14 min
February 20, 2022 Luke 6:27-38 Blessed are the poor. Blessed are the hungry. Blessed are those who weep. Blessed are you when you are hated. Woe to the rich. Woe to the full. Woe to those who laugh or mock. Woe to those who are falsely propped up. Blessed are you, the one overlooked by the world. Woe to you who cannot see beyond your pride and self-interest. Blessed are you, the one deemed a loser by the standards of the world. And woe to you who insist on those standards being kept. In this fli...
Feb 20, 2022•10 min
February 13, 2022 1 Corinthians 15:12-20 “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ… the last enemy to be destroyed is death.” The resurrection of Jesus Christ and the resurrection assured to us is an affirmation of the whole life of Jesus. The resurrection of Christ offers us hop...
Feb 13, 2022•12 min
February 6, 2022 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 The Gospel Good News of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s vindication over the power of sin and death in this life. It is Good News. It is Good News because what happened on the cross and because Jesus Christ is risen, all of your failures to adequately answer the question “What Would Jesus Do?” are forgiven. Once-for-all forgiveness for you. The tomb remains empty so that you will remember that all of your sins – the ones they will not let you forg...
Feb 06, 2022•12 min
January 16, 2022 1 Corinthians 12:1-12 The lordship of Christ is not a declaration the church can make on its own or a declaration the church can sustain over generations without the help of God. And this is where we find the gospel good news – regardless of what gifts the Spirit has given you, regardless of whether you think you are worthy of such a gift, and regardless of the priority others might place on those gifts God is going to use you to further God’s kingdom. Buckle-up because God prom...
Jan 17, 2022•9 min
January 9, 2022 - Baptism of the Lord Luke 3: 15-17, 21-22 Patterns are changing whether we want them to or not. We observe the patterns of life in the church differently. But because Jesus is lord and because what happened in the Jordan cannot be undone just like what happened at your baptism cannot be undone even though the patterns of our lives may change the call to discipleship and the pattern of following Christ’s example does not. We may gather online or at home for worship, we may have s...
Jan 10, 2022•12 min
Micah 5:2-5a Luke 1:39-45, (46-55) While the Good News of Christ’s embodied life fills me with joy, it is even better news for the people of a nowhere village than those living in an empire like, well, us. For people who live in the empire, with all the privileges of Pax Romana, those same privileges can blur our vision and prevent us from seeing that Christ would not be born and Virginia Hospital Center. Mary’s Magnificat was not sung in the Temple or National Cathedral. No, her song of praise ...
Dec 19, 2021•11 min
December 5, 2021 Luke 1:68-79 The peace Zechariah prophesied has no meaning apart from the will and purpose of God. Let me repeat it; the peace Zechariah prophesied has no meaning apart from the will and purpose of God. The church cannot make sense of peace and pursue justice in the name of peace, apart from the peace of God embodied in flesh and blood and laid in a manger. The peace of God was proclaimed and prophesied by Zechariah and Elizabeth, "an old couple, an old, hopeless, powerless, fut...
Dec 05, 2021•8 min
Jeremiah 33:14-16 The good ole days and even the status quo may be OK or even great for us, but for many, the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God, Christ's return cannot come quickly enough. What we may long for could be a return to pain and suffering for others. So, what are we to do? What is to be done? This is the rub; there is nothing for us to do. The prophet Jeremiah did not leave a checklist. I checked the gospels, and Jesus did not leave five easy steps to the second coming. All we can do ...
Nov 29, 2021•11 min
Mark 13 November 14, 2021 Mount Olivet United Methodist Church Dismantling this world is frightening. But in Mark 13 Jesus describes a dismantling to realize God’s justice and love for all of creation. God’s redemption and transformation of this broken world is good news for all; the comfort and privilege for which we work and to which we cling instantly pale in the light of God’s justice and love. Fleming put it best, "No suffering can be properly understood until the Lord comes – but he will c...
Nov 15, 2021•11 min
October 31, 2021 John 8:31-36 While we may live free to do as we please because of geography, our condition as sinners does not change. There is no amount of flag-draped apparel, apple pie, or fireworks that can undo this condition. In following Jesus, we have been sent from the consequences of our sin. All of them. That is what we mean when we declare our sins to be forgiven. That very declaration of forgiveness is our declaration of freedom, a declaration of dependence, not independence, upon ...
Oct 31, 2021•9 min
October 24, 2021 Mark 10:46-52 Generous living as a disciple of Jesus Christ is to be like Bartimaeus, like the saints of the past, to give our whole selves over to being formed, shaped by the one who calls out, over the noise of the world that rebukes us, telling us we are insignificant and not enough, not worthy of someone else's time. Our time, our generosity, our love joins us with Christ. This is what it means in our communion liturgy when we pray that we may be for the world the body of Ch...
Oct 24, 2021•13 min
Mark 10:17-31 October 10, 2021 Eternal life, salvation, and the kingdom of God are not things to be bought or earned. The rich young man did not expect Jesus to tell him to sell everything. The rich young man wanted to talk about social morality, practical ethics, or have Jesus say to him after bragging about his righteousness that he was good to go, nothing else to be done. Go young rich man, and enjoy your eternal life. The rich young man "lacked one thing.”[iii] This one thing was beyond conv...
Oct 12, 2021•11 min
Mark 9:38-50 September 26, 2021 The methods we follow, proclaim, and serve in Jesus' name may work for us, but the truth is that we do not get to put a trademark on Jesus, and we do not get to copyright the amazing grace we proclaim week after week. Jesus was not interested in squabbling over team affiliation or franchising rights. Instead, Jesus redirected the disciples' attention to something more important than claiming credit for the redeeming work he would accomplish through his life, death...
Sep 26, 2021•13 min
September 19, 2021 Mark 9:30-37 The disciples' missteps are our missteps. Their feet in the mouth moments of embarrassment are our moments. Their confusing, disorienting, and abrupt mistakes and misreading of Jesus based on their experiences of the world mirror the confusion, disorientation, and abruptness we feel when Jesus calls us away from the ways of this world and invites us, after seeking us first, to seek him, to follow, just as the first disciples did, just as disciples have for centuri...
Sep 19, 2021•12 min
Mark 8:27-38 As those who seek Christ, we have been freed, along with all of creation, from the burden of perfection knowing Christ has done for us which we have never been able to do. Peter could not see it and still, he was the rock upon which Christ built the church. God continues to work through those who follow Christ today, proclaiming his Lordship over all creation. God continues to work through you and through me, freeing us to follow. No more. No less. Get full access to Brewing Theolog...
Sep 12, 2021•9 min
Psalm 125 Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace, extending peace that surpasses all understanding to the righteous – the people who follow God’s law, loving God and neighbor perfectly – but also to those of us who depend upon grace being extended to us. Through his life, death, and resurrection not only did Jesus display what peace looked like among the nations and neighbors but by taking our unrighteousness upon himself on the cross we have been made righteous. The righteousness of God in Jesus C...
Sep 05, 2021•9 min
August 8, 2021 Mount Olivet United Methodist Church, Arlington, Virginia 2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33 We are all like Absalom if Absalom had narrowly avoided that tree and was restored to the Father who loves him. And that is because another King’s Son rode on a royal donkey to a tree. In his body on the tree, on the cross, he suffers the curse that belongs to every David and Absalom, every Goliath, every apostle, every saint, and every sinner. The curse that belongs to you and me. So, it’s not ju...
Aug 08, 2021•12 min
2 Samuel 7:1-14a July 18, 2021 David was able to control God just as much as I can prevent the movement of God with a well-placed Bible on a table. No matter how hard David tried, no matter how hard we try we are unable to domesticate, to control, to keep at bay the movement and presence of God. This section of 2 Samuel is titled “God’s Covenant with David” with God being the center of the story and not the actions of David no matter how well-intended or pious David’s actions were. Introduced in...
Jul 20, 2021•10 min
2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19 Israel's story in 1 and 2 Samuel is one of change. The cycle of the story in 1 and 2 Samuel from Israel's defeat and loss of the Ark to the Philistines defeat and Israel's reclaiming of the Ark does not bring to reader, it did not bring Israel back to the original starting point. The story may have pushed Israel into a new physical location with a new King legitimized buy by the move but God, who had been with them - delivering them from captivity, bringing them all the wa...
Jul 12, 2021•11 min
June 6, 2021 Mark 3:20-35 Throughout his ministry, beginning in Capernaum, continuing to the cross when he told a disciple and his mother, “Here is your mother. Woman here is your son,” Jesus created a new family, and frankly, it looked and continues to look different than many expect. Those that were once out are now in. Those unable to be healed are now whole. Those relegated to the outskirts of the community are welcomed home with open arms, with a banquet fit only for a prodigal returning ho...
Jun 06, 2021•10 min
Pentecost 2021 Acts 2:1-21 On that Pentecost we were all there. All of us. All of you. And that is how the church was formed and sent - all people, engulfed by God’s amazing grace, not because of their merit rather because of the faithfulness of the One the church proclaimed then and proclaims today. At Pentecost, using every language known so that there would be no mistake, no mistranslation, no nuance missed, or nonverbal misconstrued the Holy Spirit descended so that those present, those in t...
May 24, 2021•10 min
Mount Olivet United Methodist Church Luke 24:36b-48 The disciples had witnessed first hand the work Jesus had been engaged in and the Gospels tell us early on that they believed. They believe after having received physical confirmation. The disciples believed enough to give up their lives and follow Jesus, an itinerant rabbi, for three years, and at every turn along the way physical signs were being performed to confirm who Jesus was to the disciples and the world. Every day, for three years, th...
Apr 20, 2021•12 min
The cross is ultimately where the Palm Sunday procession leads. While the might and power of Pilate’s procession would lead to the seat of power, Jesus, the donkey riding Savior, would ultimately end up being put to death. Jesus, riding a borrowed colt, is making clear that he is not the Messianic king the crowds expected. There would be no violent overthrow of the Roman Empire. His disciples still, even after this parade did not get it, so much so that Peter would bring a sword with him to Geth...
Mar 28, 2021•11 min
Regardless of where we have been worshiping over the past year, we, the church, Christ’s called and gathered body, are resurrection people. We do not believe that sin and death and the hopelessness of the valley of dry bones hold the last word. This has been difficult to remember of the past year, because, frankly, death and dry bones have been part of our everyday life. Even if you have somehow managed to avoid the virus over the past year you have still had your life turned upside down. You mi...
Mar 14, 2021•14 min
As the United Methodist Church’s communion liturgy states, suggesting Peter was right, “It is a good and joyful thing always and everywhere to give to give thanks,” to give praise to God. That is to give praise to God in Christ. What we see here in this theophany, is that Christ is the Maker of heaven and earth, the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, and that same one has promised that his yoke is light, and his burden is easy. His yoke is light, and his burden is easy because, as we ...
Feb 14, 2021•12 min
Jesus Christ is the Hope of the world. Every day we place hope in one another to get through the day, live as a community, and care for one another, and yet, Jesus tells us, and we see in his ministry that to follow him means our hope rests in him and nowhere else. This may sound lofty or church of me to say, but when we proclaim Jesus Christ to be Lord, placing our whole trust in his grace, we are saying that the ways of the world, those who ask for our allegiance and fidelity must take a backs...
Jan 24, 2021•10 min
Baptism of the Lord - Acts 19:1-17, Year B In the waters of our baptism, God has clothed us in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and given us a full pardon. The baptism offered by John was not able to do this and if we think today that the person doing the sprinkling, pouring, or dunking has any control over what is happening in this holy moment we are wholly mistaken. Professor James Torrance put it best: “But it is not the water, not the church, not the minister, not my faith, not my dying and...
Jan 12, 2021•10 min
Mark 13:24-37 We find ourselves in a time of already and not yet. The Kingdom of God is here, inaugurated in the Christmas manger we look toward, and not yet fully realized as we await Christ's return. As Advent people, we are doorkeepers and people of the watch. Waiting seems more intense this year, as we wait in the pandemic, waiting for a vaccine, waiting for the day when masks a necessary accessory, waiting for life to get back to normal. The Advent waiting is of a different sort. We are stu...
Nov 29, 2020•10 min
November 15, 2020 Ephesians 4:1-16 The unity we see is already present. The peace we long for is here. The absence of division and fraction is here. It is just like Jesus says it is, like a treasure hidden in a field, buried in your backyard. Just because you do not realize it’s there. Just because you refuse to believe it’s there. Just because you won’t risk looking like a fool and go digging up your yard it t doesn’t mean it’s not there. It does not mean it’s not real and true. It doesn’t mean...
Nov 15, 2020•11 min
