By Doug Lee

• The Patron Saint of the Tongue-Tied by Doug Lee (4/24/2012)
  Psalm 118:1-29

  Acts 4:1-20

  Healing the lame (last week’s text from Acts 3) may lie far beyond our abilities. But is Peter and John’s courageous speech to the authorities any less miraculous for us? The church’s speech in our pluralistic setting is increasingly muted and indistinct. Sure, the constitution guarantees freedom of speech, but that “freedom” works out to be only operable in acceptable times and places: Sundays mornings within a self-identified arena of worship, but not Monday mornings in the workplace or classroom. Our kids’ elementary sc...
• Power Politics and the Politics of Weakness by Doug Lee (2/1/2012)
  Fifth Sunday after Epiphany Isaiah 40:21-31 Psalm 147:1-11, 20c 1 Corinthians 9:16-23 Mark 1:29-39 In this election year, the headlong scramble for power is front and center. Candidates, political parties, and super PACs climb over one another to gain access to the levers of power. Could it be that the church is little different in its craving for potency? Waning influence in American cu...
• The Living Gospel by Doug Lee (12/1/2011)
  [image] Second Sunday of Advent Isaiah 40:1-11 Psalm 85 2 Peter 3:8-15a Fallible Church, Deliberate Grace by Doug Lee (8/29/2011)

  12^th Sunday after Pentecost Ezekiel 33:1-11 Romans 13:8-14 Matthew 18:15-20   It is strangely comforting to hear Jesus talking about a sinful church. Some heap admiration on Jesus’ teaching, and then dismiss it as too lofty to be attainable. Turning the other cheek is for the spiritual elite. Loving one’s enemies is for the age to come. The Beatitudes are true spiritually, but not in practice. But if ever we wondered whether Jesus were a realist or not, his words in Matthew 18 put that question to rest. The church Jesus envisions is not some idealized community we have not ...
• Gospel Sequel by Doug Lee (5/31/2011)

  Ascension Sunday

  Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 1:15-23; Luke 24:44-53 “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” While last month’s headline grabbing prediction of Jesus’ return, the rescue of believers from the earth to heaven, and the onset of tribulation for an unbelieving world (now revised to October) belongs to an extremist Camp(ing), the basic eschatological question underlies much of American Christianity. The apostles’ question sounds contemporary two millennia later as believers gaze heavenward and count down until the end of the world, while others with a less definite timetable still await a rapture. Meanwhile, on the other side of the divide, scoffing at such expectations is easy, especially after announced deadlines pass. Jes...
• Engaging Jesus by Doug Lee (3/22/2011)
  John 4:5-42 How long does it take to know someone truly? A year, a decade, a lifetime? Whether working alongside someone, putting in the hard work of committed friendship, or sharing the blessings and labors of marriage, we can be confident that we can know a person’s identity, aims, and motivations with the passage of time. Yet after two millennia, can we be so certain that we know Jesus? Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman is yet another story from John’s gospel that punctures our certainty that we have Jesus triangulated. We may feel as if we know Jesus after generations of slotting him in our christological taxonomies, tradition, and piety. But time and again, Jesus eludes our fully apprehending him. Last week Nicodemus approached Jesus and began by utter...
• Still the Crucified by Doug Lee (2/3/2011)
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  Isaiah 58:1-9a; 1 Corinthians 2:1-16; Matthew 5:13-20 When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Paul’s description of his preaching is enough to stop any preacher in her or his tracks. It is certainl...
• The Politics of Hope: American and Apocalyptic by Doug Lee (12/1/2010)
  Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15:4-13; Matthew 3:1-12 It wasn’t surprising on that November night two years ago when people poured out onto the streets of our San Francisco neighborhood cheering and beating pots and pans after the media called the election for Barack Obama. What was surprising was the way that Obama’s election resounded in many corners of the country far less blue than this Left Coast City. Not since the 1960s had both Virginia and North Carolina gone Democratic. No matter one’s view of Obama then or now, the fact of his e...
• Redeeming Shrewdness by Doug Lee (9/16/2010)
  [image]Luke 16:1-13b

  Eugene Peterson observes that the story of the dishonest manager ranks as our least favorite of Jesus’ parables. What is there to cozy up to in a story where cheating goes unpunished and cunning is seemingly commended? Are we to use money to buy friends the way we buy objects for consumption? Can Jesus truly be recommending such scand...
• Three Funerals and a Wedding by Doug Lee (6/30/2010)
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  Galatians 6:7-16

  Maple syrup has no business running off my pancakes into the sausage links. Sweet and spicy don’t belong together. It’s a violation of the natural order of things. This was my settled culinary worldview until something unexpected happened on a visit to Mexico City. At the me...
• Enduring Desire by Doug Lee (2/24/2010)
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  Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 13:31-35 Having passed through the devil’s testing in the wilderness in last week’s lectionary text from Luke, Jesus contends next with testing that tak...
• As Good As Done by Doug Lee (12/16/2009)
    Micah 5:2-5a; Hebrews 10:5-10; Luke 1:39-55 We arrived at the village and were greeted by the headman and the welcoming committee. As the honored guests, we were made to sit on chairs under the mango tree. The only others who sat on chairs were men. The women and children sat on mats or on the dusty ground amid the chickens that had free run of the village. While the important people sat “enthroned,” the clear leaders of the celebration were the women. They had come dressed in their best clothes, shiny and clean. They raised their voices in song, loud and bright. With call and response, joyful ululation, and bodies movin...
• Ultimate Imagination by Doug Lee (11/18/2009)
  [image] Daniel 7:9-14; Revelation 1:4b-8; John 18:33-38a Some years ago, a friend of ours who was a major player on the Nigerian political scene nearly met an untimely death but survived. After confronting his ...
• What to Wear in Battle by Doug Lee (8/20/2009)
  [image]1 Kings 8:22-30, 41-43; Ephesians 6:10-20; John 6:56-69 The culmination to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians has ...