All Past Reflections

Sixth Sunday after PentecostDistractions – Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8/NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (Luke 10:38-42/NRSVUE) When I was in seminary I did my ministry internship at a UCC church in the town next to the one in which I lived; it was a...

Fifth Sunday after PentecostNeighbors – Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Colossians 1:1-14/NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (Luke 10:25-37/NRSVUE) When they were in high school, my two daughters worked at the same place, about five miles from home, which made for a pretty good...

Fourth Sunday after PentecostHospitality – Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Galatians 6:1-16/NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (Luke 10:1-11,16-20/NRSVUE) When I was a kid, we generally went over to my grandparents’s house for major feasts — Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and...

Third Sunday after PentecostOpen & Affirming Sunday First Reading (Isaiah 43:1-3/NRSVUE, adapted)Gospel Reading (Matthew 5:13-16/NRSVUE, adapted) At last weekend’s Rocky Mountain Conference Annual Celebration I decided to participate in a workshop entitled...

First Sunday after Pentecost"Trinity" — Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Psalm 8, NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (John 16:12-15, NRSVUE) I was an English major in college but was required to take about half of my classes in other subjects — ones with which I was far less...

Pentecost"The Spirit" — Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Acts 2:1-21, NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (John 14:8-17, NRSVUE) I was in my office this past Tuesday morning, struggling mightily to come up with something to say here today, when it dawned on me that a change of...

Seventh Sunday in Easter"One" — Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Acts 16:16-34/CEB)Gospel Reading (John 17:20-26/CEB) During this season of Easter — which ends next week with the celebration of Pentecost — most our first readings have been from the Acts of the...

Sixth Sunday in EasterEyes to See — Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Acts 16:9-15/CEB)Gospel Reading (John 5:1-9/CEB) The theologian Karl Barth once gave this bit of advice to preachers: “Take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret...

Fourth Sunday in Easter"For the Long Haul" — Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Acts 9:36-43/NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (John 10:22-30/NRSVUE) Music: HUCC Choir I’ve been doing this preaching thing long enough to have learned a few things, and one of those things is this:...

Third Sunday in Easter"Feeding Lambs & Tending Sheep" — Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Acts 9:1-6/NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (John 21:1-19/NRSVUE) The building in which I lived during college had a pool table in the basement, and this was a mixed blessing (as...