All Past Reflections

Fourth Sunday after PentecostThe Power of a ParableRev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Ezekiel 17:22-24, NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (Mark 4:26-34, NRSVUE) Over the past month or so we’ve been working on a little project at home, which has been… fun. Because water is, as we...

Third Sunday after PentecostHide and SeekRev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Genesis 3:8-15, NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (Mark 3:20-25, NRSVUE) The neighborhood in which I spent my elementary school years was a pretty awesome place (even if I didn’t appreciate it at the...

Second Sunday after PentecostPride SundayRev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (2 Corinthians 4:5-12/NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (Mark 2:23-3:6/NRSVUE) At the last church I served, there was a box sitting on a table in the Sunday School classroom with a sign on it that said:...

Trinity Sunday"A Proper Community"Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Isaiah 6:1-8/NRSVUE)Second Reading (John 3:1-17/NRSVUE) Okay, so here’s something I never imagined I’d be saying out loud in church (or anywhere else for that matter): Listen now to the word of God as...

Day of PentecostRev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Ezekiel 37:1-14/NRSVUE)Second Reading (Acts 2:1-21/NRSVUE) Creatio de novo is a theological term that means “creation without the use of any preexisting materials” or “creation from the new.” Because the early church...

First Reading (Acts 1:1-11, NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (Luke 24:44-53, NRSVUE)The Ascension of Christ — Rev. Brent Gundlah Today’s just one of those days — or, to be more accurate, it’s three of those days; and therein lies a problem. You see, today we get ourselves a trio...

Sixth Sunday in Easter First Reading (1 John 5:1-6, NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (John 15:9-17, NRSVUE)"Love One Another" — Rev. Brent Gundlah In 1949 the legendary comedian Groucho Marx decided to relinquish his membership in New York’s prestigious Friars’ Club. As the...

Fifth Sunday in Easter "A New Way of Seeing" — Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Acts 8:26-40/NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (John 15:1-8/NRSVUE) Acts 8:26-40 For the fourteen years I was in Boston, I worked in one building; it stood at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Summer...

Fourth Sunday in EasterCreation Justice Sunday — Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Exodus 32:1-14, NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (John 10:7-10, NRSVUE) You learn a lot of things as the parent of twins, and one of the things you learn sooner or later is this: While it’s...

Easter Sunday"Unfinished Business" by Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Isaiah 25:6-9, NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (Mark 16:1-8, NRSVUE) It’s one of the oldest jokes in all of sports: What are the last two words of the Star Spangled Banner? “Play Ball!” They’re not, of...