All Past Reflections

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost"Faith Works"Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (James 2:1-17/NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (Mark 7:24-37/NRSVUE) Have you ever wondered whether Jesus, having said or done something, later wished that he’d said or done something different? I...

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost"Deceiving Ourselves"Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (James 1:17-29/NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23/NRSVUE) Do you hear that? If you listen really carefully you can hear Martin Luther speaking words of disapproval from...

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost"Safety in Numbers"Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Ephesians 6:10-20/NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (John 6:56-69/NRSVUE) I was looking at the volume controls on the sound board back there earlier this week and noticed that they only go up to...

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost"Simple Wisdom"Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Ephesians 5:15-20, NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (John 6:51-58, NRSVUE) Our family recently converged in the Chicago neighborhood of Hyde Park for vacation. It may seem to you like a strange...

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost"Members of One Another"Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Ephesians 4:25-5:2/NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (John 6:35, 41-51/NRSVUE) I won’t be so presumptuous as to speak for you, but all of Jesus’s talk about bread lately has made me really...

Tenth Sunday after PentecostRev. Brent Gundlah"Bread" First Reading (Ephesians 4:1-16/Common English Bible)Gospel Reading (John 6:1-21/NRSVUE) Just a few weeks ago, on a hot and humid Tuesday night in Arlington, Texas, Major League Baseball held its annual Midsummer...

Ninth Sunday after PentecostRev. Brent Gundlah"Going About Our Business" First Reading (Jeremiah 23:1-6 / NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 / NRSVUE) When we last checked-in with the apostles a couple of weeks ago, Jesus had just decided to “send them out by...

Eighth Sunday after PentecostRev. Brent Gundlah"Choices" First Reading (Amos 7:7-15, NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (John 6:1-21, NRSVUE) I don’t know if you’ve noticed but pretty much every Sunday, right after I’ve finished reading the gospel passage, I say those same five...

Seventh Sunday after PentecostRev. Brent Gundlah"Going Home" First Reading (Ezekiel 2:1-5/NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (Mark 6:1-13/NRSVUE) Jesus delivers. And by “delivers,” I don’t mean that Jesus frees anyone from captivity or constraint (like God did for the Israelites...

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost"Why Are You Afraid?"Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Job 38:1-11, NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (Mark 4:35-41, NRSVUE) “Why were you afraid?” Jesus asks his disciples near the end of today’s reading from Mark’s Gospel. And, at least at some...