Proper 25.C.22
Joel 2:23-32; Luke18:9-14
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

“O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before.”

Proper 24.C.22
Luke 18:1-8
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

Psychologist, Albert Ellis, once said “The art of love is largely the art of persistence.” In the epistle for today St. Paul encourages Timothy when he writes: “I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.” In short keep on with the good work—even when times are challenging, even when circumstances are less than that for which we had hoped—keep on proclaiming.

Proper 20.C.22
Luke 16:1-13
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

Let’s face it, some things are really hard to get past. Take this morning’s parable, as a case in point. When confronted with this story, most folks never think about the wisdom in it, because they can’t get past the dishonesty. So, rather than seeing the dishonest steward as a person worthy of emulation, a good number of us (perhaps even the majority) just want to see him in jail.

Proper 16.C.22
Isaiah 58:9b-14
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

It is news to no one that we are in a drought. The grass is brittle and brown, flowers and vegetables are languishing on the vine, the leaves of young trees are turning brown. Watering by hose is banned in Dedham for the foreseeable future. Water levels are dropping and folks are getting anxious.

Proper 15.C.22
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

Mickey Mantle was among the best baseball players who ever played the game. In fact, most experts, agree that he might have been one of the two or three greatest players ever had he not spent most of his life playing fast and loose with his health.

Proper 14.C.22
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

Proper 11.C.22
Luke 10:25-37
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

Proper 7.C.22
Galatians 3:23-29
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

Thomas Long tells a story about Grace Thomas. Grace was born in the early twentieth century as the second of five children. Her father was a streetcar conductor in Birmingham, Alabama, and so Grace grew up in modest circumstances. Later in life after getting married and moving to Georgia, Grace took a clerking job in the state capitol in Atlanta, where she developed a fondness for politics and the law. So, although already a full-time mother and a full-time clerk, Grace enrolled in night school to study law.

Proper 9.C.22
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

Proper 8.C.22
Luke 9:51-62
The Rev. Melanie McCarley