August 2025 – Wicomico Presbyterian Church

Time to Heal

Luke 13:10-17 There is a story by Alice Hoffman called Seventh Heaven. It’s about a suburban community in Long Island, near Levittown. It’s the kind of community that popped up all over America after World War II, like Levittown. Tract homes, affordable for first-time homeowners. Streets that never go straight, winding around in loops to make sure you won’t drive too fast. Sidewalks everywhere for strollers and tricycles, to keep the kids safe. All the houses look alike, so newcomers driving into the neighborhood get confused about where they are. Neighbors can walk into each other’s homes and know just where everything is, because it is exactly the same as their own house. The story takes place at the end of 1959 and the beginning of 1960, a time when the world is on the verge of change. And the people in this community are beginning to feel a little […]

Reading the Signs

Luke 12:49-56 In the beloved story by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince falls from his home planet to earth, where he is a stranger in a strange place. In his wandering, he encounters a fox. The prince tries to pet the animal, but the fox warns him to be careful. “I’m not tame,” he says. Something Jesus might say as well. “I’m not tame. I won’t play nice for the sake of your comfort. I may even shock you and disorient you for the sake of the truth.” He won’t bite like the fox, but his words sometimes have a bite. This is our third consecutive week in Luke’s chapter 12, and perhaps you are ready to move on. There is a growing dis-ease to the tone of it, a growing sense of urgency Jesus brings to his words. They serve to bring our attention to the same urgency, […]

Lasting Things

Luke 12:32-40 Let’s try a little experiment. Close your eyes and conjure a picture of Jesus. What does he look like? For many of us the first image that will come to mind is the famous Warner Sallman painting of Jesus, the one that has hung in homes and Sunday school classrooms for close to a century. You know the one: Jesus has wavy light brown hair, smooth skin, very white-European features. It’s called The Head of Christ. This image has influenced so many of us, as well as many other artists who have created their own version of it. We see blond-haired, blue-eyed Jesuses galore – images that appeal to many Americans. But, of course, it is very unlikely that Jesus looked anything like that. Jesus was a Middle Eastern man, who certainly would have looked like other Middle Eastern men. But this is only one way that people […]

Passing Things

Luke 12:13-21 There is a story about a man who had a great talent for making money. He was just very good at it. He instinctively knew how to build a business that was very successful and profitable. And then he invested his profits, and it turned out he had an uncanny ability to play the stock market. Always knowing what to buy, when to sell. And his wealth kept growing. Like the rich farmer in the parable, this man had a green thumb – of a different variety. He seemed to be able to do anything he set his mind to, and it was pleasurable. He enjoyed watching his net worth grow. He enjoyed seeing the way his wealth gave him power. He enjoyed the fact that he was never forced to waste his time because whenever he started to feel impatient or bored some underling could take over […]