Liz Cooledge Jenkins

Category: Greek-ing out (& other Bible thoughts)

  • Who can add a cubit?

    And who from among y’all, by worrying, is able to add one cubit to their stature? -Jesus (Matt 6:27, my translation) Now that I’ve spent a minute reflecting on Jesus’ words about how worry (or at least the bad kind of worry) doesn’t add single hour to anyone’s span of life, I have a small…

  • Is it adding an hour?

    And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? -Jesus (Matt 6:27) I’m still teasing out all the random thoughts I had while preparing a sermon a couple months ago on Matthew 6:25-34, the passage where Jesus tells people not to worry and such. So, after some speculations…

  • More valuable, or just different?

    Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? -Jesus (Matt 6:26, NIV) I was surprised to find, while reading Matthew 6:26 in its original Greek, that the word translated as…

  • Y’all’s heavenly…mother?

    Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. -Jesus (Matthew 6:26, NRSV) Or, in my translation: “Y’all, look at the birds of heaven, because they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and y’all’s heavenly father feeds them.” The…

  • Worry can be good?

    When I was studying Matthew 6:25-34 to preach on it (see the post below for the full passage…and mini-sermon), I looked up the Greek word translated as “worry.” I wanted to see where else this word is used in the New Testament. I was surprised to find that it can be used in a positive…

  • Learn from the wildflowers: a mini-sermon on Matthew 6:25-34

    Thankful for the opportunity to give another short sermon at Lake B a couple weeks ago. I’m always glad to have opportunities to preach – but really I’m mostly grateful to have been pushed to think a lot about this text. Matthew 6:25-34 was actually one of the texts that I came up with as…

  • Look At Us: a short sermon on Acts 3:1-11

    Thankful for another opportunity to join an awesome team of preachers at Lake B and give a mini-sermon on Acts 3:1-11. Here’s the passage, and then the sermon text is below! (Or if you prefer to listen/watch, the worship service is on YouTube here, and my part starts around 34:00. Stick around for David Meade…

  • Extraordinary Courage, Extraordinary Kindness

    Sharing a sermon from a couple years ago: feel free to listen here, or the text is below! The passage is Ruth 2, where Ruth meets Boaz. As I reflect on the story of Ruth, I wonder if the world of our heroines, Ruth and Naomi, might in some ways not be as different from…

  • How (Not) to Lay Down One’s Life: A short sermon on John 10:11-18

    (11) “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd places his life on behalf of the sheep. (12) The wage-worker, even, who is not the shepherd, of whom the sheep are not (his) own, beholds the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees – and the wolf seizes them and scatters (them) – (13)…

  • The illusion of independence: Jesus, to the Laodiceans

    Here’s a literal translation of Revelation 3:14-22—Jesus’ words to the last of the seven churches featured in the first few chapters of Revelation. (14) And to the angel of the church in Laodicea, write; these things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of the creation of God; (15) I know your…