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Showing posts from July, 2025

The Good Samaritan

  One of the many reasons why this parable has remained so dear to my heart is because of this fascinating impact it’s had on our culture. It’s because of this story that the phrase “good samaritan” is part of our popular lexicon. This phrase is heavily used across local news and social media, and it has a pretty consistent definition: “a stranger who steps in to help when they see someone in public in danger.” But…our definition of what it means to “help” can be a bit variable. I did a search of the internet for “good samaritan” stories from news headlines this week, and here’s just a sampling of what I found: “Good samaritan pulls driver from a burning car” “Good samaritan pulls two people from a burning boat” “Good samaritan performs CPR on a shooting victim” “Good samaritan spends two days reuniting a woman with her lost purse” “Good samaritans find a lost wedding ring and return it to its owner, who hadn’t taken it off once in over 50 years” And the one that really got my atte...

Mary and Martha

  Friends, for the next two weeks we’re taking a short break from Stump the Preacher, because there are two stories from Luke that come up in the lectionary just once every three years, that are so precious to me that when they come up I really want to lift them up for you. This is one of them. Mary and Martha. I’m a Martha. No question about it. And I’m not the type of person to literally believe we all fall into types, especially binary ones, and I believe that humans have the ability to grow and change from day to day, so categorizing us is hardly ever helpful, except for when this story comes up in the lectionary. Because I’m a Martha. I had a holy experience with this short text about a decade ago, when I was working with a spiritual director. If you’ve never done spiritual direction before, or known someone who did–imagine you and God were in couples therapy together. Actually, since Christians believe in a triune God, maybe it’s a group therapy situation. That’s spiritual di...

Why do some people struggle so much more with their health than others?

  Luke 5: 17-26  Jesus Heals a Paralytic 17 One day while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem were sitting nearby, and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. [ a ] 18 Just then some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a stretcher. They were trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, [ b ] 19 but, finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down on the stretcher through the tiles into the middle of the crowd [ c ] in front of Jesus. 20 When he saw their faith, he said, “Friend, [ d ] your sins are forgiven you.” 21 Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, “Who is this who is speaking blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 When Jesus perceived their questionings, he answered them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Stand up ...