Lection: Hebrews 11

August 17, 2025

Hebrews 11:29 – 12:2
Luke 12:49-56

The Trouble With Jesus

In reflecting on today’s Gospel text, Jared Alcantara wrote this: “If a pollster walked around a major city with a film crew and asked strangers at random, ‘Why did Jesus come into the world?’ we can presume that none of the respondents would reply, ‘That’s easy. Jesus came into the world to bring fire upon it and cause division in it.’ If someone answered this way, the pollster might assume the person had misheard the question.”

But that is indeed what we hear Jesus saying in Luke 12: “I have come to cast fire upon the earth! I have come, not to bring peace, but division!” Oh my! It’s not quite what we’re used to hearing in church about love, kindness, caring, and peace. Isn’t peace supposed to be one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Wouldn’t Jesus bring peace into the world and into our hearts?

Certainly, peace is one of the gifts that we do hope to receive from our faith. When our lives are stressful and the future is uncertain, we come to church looking for hope and encouragement, hoping to find peace in the midst of the figurative storms around … Read more »

November 14, 2021

Hebrews 11:11-14, 19-25
Mark 13:1-8

“Meanwhile”

There will be “wars and rumours of wars” – nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.”

As we near the end of the Church Year and prepare to begin again with the Season of Advent, the lectionary gives us some apocalyptic texts (like this one from Mark 13) on which to reflect and preach. What are apocalyptic texts, you ask? Here’s how the SALT Lectionary Commentary explains these strange, symbolic, and often scary pieces of writing:

“When death-dealing forces seemed to have the upper hand, one ancient literary response was to envision an imminent future in which God directly comes to the rescue in spectacular fashion: righting wrongs, routing wrongdoers, and thereby inaugurating a new era of justice and compassion. This literature is often called “Apocalyptic” (from the Greek word apokalupsis, meaning “uncovering” or “revealing”).

“God pulls aside the veil, revealing to God’s people the hidden dramatic rescue to come. Apocalyptic narratives and images can be found throughout the Bible (with Daniel and Revelation being prime examples), typically including cryptic, poetic language; ominous signs in the heavens; falling stars; … Read more »

August 15, 2010

Isaiah 5:1-7
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Luke 12:49-56

When I was 15 years old, I stood up at the front of the Presbyterian church that I had attended with my family for nearly ten years. I stood up with a couple of other young people to publicly profess my faith in God for the first time, and to declare my intention to live my life as a follower of Jesus.

It was an especially memorable moment for me because I was also baptized on that day. As the water was poured, the baptismal words were spoken, and the choir sang the Aaronic blessing over me, I experienced an overwhelming sense of belonging. I belonged to a community. I belonged to a church family. I belonged to the God who had made me and loved me.

I don’t really remember what we talked about in the membership class at the church as we prepared to make our professions of faith. Probably it was much of the same material that we cover today in our classes… God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Church, the Bible, discipleship, worship, prayer, service, mission, stewardship, and all of that. We likely discussed many or most of those things, but one thing that I’m … Read more »

August 8, 2010

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-12

The eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrews begins with a definition of faith: The King James Bible translates it this way: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The New International Version says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase “The Message” puts it like this: “The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see.”

At our church membership class two weeks ago, I asked those present to think about what it might mean to be a person of faith. I asked them to think about what the characteristics of a person of faith might be… and these were some of the answers: hope, trust, generosity, kindness, commitment, steadfastness, humility, patience, joy.

But before I asked them to define faith, I invited them to think of a person they know whom they think of as a person of faith. Maybe someone in their life today, maybe someone they once knew, maybe someone … Read more »