Author Archives: NextSunday Reflections

Isaiah 40:3-5 A few years ago, I slipped into a period of spiritual isolation. I felt distanced from God. Looking back, I see how a variety of factors created that condition: significant health challenges, overwork, frustrating professional matters, and a heightened sense of my mortality. The sense of isolation persisted so long, I wondered if […]

Isaiah 40:1-2 Does Isaiah think it strange when God tells him to speak comfort to God’s long exiled people? That’s not a prophet’s usual assignment.  “Tell them enough is enough,” says God. “They are pardoned. It’s time to start a new life.”  A young friend of mine slipped into addiction to hard drugs. She had […]

Mark 8:27-30 Sometimes our most important conversations happen on the road.  Jesus and the disciples are walking to Caesarea Philippi when he asks, Who do people say that I am? (v. 27). Maybe Jesus is simply gathering the latest information, checking the opinion polls while they pass another mile marker. Don’t we check the news […]

Isaiah 9:6-7 When you read these two verses, do you hear background music in your mind? Does Handel’s rhythm make you accentuate certain words? Do you hear the Messiah’s four-part harmony as you pronounce the names this child shall be called?  The famous melody that surrounds this beloved passage has helped us memorize it. But […]

Isaiah 9:1-5 If you take a tour of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, New York, be sure to see the basement. Known as the “Great Northern Depot of the Underground Railroad,” the church once harbored runaway slaves there as they made their way to freedom.  During this part of the tour, the guide will often turn […]

Micah 5:1-5a Our congregation has been talking this year about the relationship between our faith and our jobs. We’re asking, “How does our faith enrich our work?” and “How does our work challenge our faith?”  At the end of one listening session in which a group of lawyers had discussed the most difficult aspects of […]

Jeremiah 33:19-26 When I was reflecting on these verses in Jeremiah, the Notre Dame Cathedral caught fire. Breaking news from Paris kept drawing my attention from the Scripture to the television screen. I moved from God’s assurance that the divine-human covenant could not be destroyed to feeling deep sadness as I watched this iconic house […]

Jeremiah 33:14-18 When does gift giving become the least spiritual part of this season for you? It happens to me when I trade interesting questions for lesser ones. When time is short, I stop wondering, “What unexpected gift would bring them joy?” I start asking questions like: What’s expected? How much should I spend? Is […]

Jeremiah 33:10-13 Faith lets us see more than what first meets the eye. Whatever our lives look like on this first day of December, faith shows us the possibilities as well as the problems. Letting God be our vision doesn’t mean denying the challenges we face. Obstacles exist. Pain is real. Loneliness is hard to […]

Luke 24:30-32 I must admit that I sometimes use this story to make me feel better about myself. How in the world did these two not know they were traveling with Jesus? I tell myself that if this happened to me, of course I would know it was Christ. But in reality, I would probably […]