Irreverently Reverend

  Fifth Sunday of Easter So what are we going to say? Should we continue sinning so grace will multiply?  2  Absolutely not! All of us died to sin. How can we still live in it?  3  Or don’t you know that all who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  4  Therefore, we were buried together with him through baptism into his death , so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too can walk in newness of life.  5  If we were united together in a death like his, we will also be united together in a resurrection like his.  6  This is what we know: the person that we used to be was crucified with him in order to get rid of the corpse that had been controlled by sin. That way we wouldn’t be slaves to sin anymore,  7  because a person who has died has been freed from sin’s power.  8  But if we died with Christ, we have faith that we will also live with him....

  Baptism of the Lord As the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 18 So with many other exhortations he proclaimed the good news to the people. 19 But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, 20 added to them all by shutting up John in prison. 21 Now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form lik...

  Trinity Sunday Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him, but they doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “ All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you . And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age .” (NRSVue)             A congregant said to a colleague of mine once that she clearly needed to have some extra training as a pastor because the congregation wasn’t growing.   My colleague asked what the congregant was doing to grow in their own faith and the person looked at her with scorn; the purpose of a pastor is to grow a church, they said, and to make sure there were people to step up to take over leade...

  Ordinary Time At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I should give you.”  6  And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you , and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne today.  7  And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.  8  And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted.  9  Give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil, for who can govern this great people of yours?” 10  It pleased the Lord that Solom...