All Past Reflections

Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost “Render unto Caesar” — Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Exodus 33:12-23, CEB)Gospel Reading (Matthew 22:15-22, NIV) Not far from my great-grandparents’ tiny village in the Scottish Lowlands lies a larger town by the name of...

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost "What Would You Do?" Gospel Reading (Matthew 21:33-46, NRSVUE) There’s this show that’s been on television for many years now called “What Would You Do?” For those of you who haven’t seen it, the premise is simple: actors engage in...

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost "Answers and Questions" Rev. Brent Gundlah Is there anything more frustrating than asking someone a question and having them respond to you with a question of their own? I don’t know. Is there? The chief priests and the elders of the...

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost"Everyone Gets a Medal!" — Rev. Brent Gundlah When they were six years old, our daughters, for reasons that remain shrouded in mystery to this day, decided they wanted to play soccer. It was the one and only time they ventured into...

"Seventy Times Seven" Rev. Brent Gundlah "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." We’ve all read and said and heard these words countless times both here in church and elsewhere. But let's be honest: How often do we really stop and think about what they mean?...

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost “Getting Together” — Rev. Brent Gundlah Jesus may have given Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven, but you all gave me the keys to this church, and that’s pretty good too. At a purely functional level, it makes sense for me to have...

Fourteenth Sunday after PentecostThe Things We Must Do — Rev. Brent Gundlah One thing that became very clear during the recent pandemic is that people really don’t like being told what to do. I mean, how many times over those three years did we hear about all of the...

Thirteenth Sunday after PentecostRev. Brent Gundlah If you ever happen to find yourself in Rome with a few hours to kill, head over to St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican; if you can’t get there in person, that’s fine because you can actually take a virtual tour of it...

Twelfth Sunday after PentecostRegrets — Rev. Brent Gundlah When people come to my office for the first time, the tend ask me about the blue post-it note taped to the door above the inside handle that says “KEYS?” in capital letters. It’s there to remind me to take my...

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost"A Sill, Small Voice" — Rev. Brent Gundlah Behind my elementary school there was a tiny stream that separated the athletic field from the woods just beyond it. It was only about six feet wide and six inches deep — not significant enough...