Lectionary Musings from the Church Anew Blog: February 8 and 15

MinistryPreachingLectionaryLectionary Musings
Written By Rev. Emmy Kegler

​​Each week, we’ll offer a curated selection of blog posts that speak to the upcoming lectionary texts to help spark your imagination and serve as a thought partner for you. We hope these musings meet you right where you are with a fresh, bold, and faithful witness.

February 8, 2026

Gospel: Matthew 5:13-20

Dr. Ulysses Burley III, “Law and Morals”

While we often participate in Caesar's economy — either out of self-preservation or because we feel like we just don't have a choice — God does not deal in Caesar's currency.

As children of God then, under this earthly rule of legal oppression — we can continue to pay the tax to keep in line with the law, but it cannot be divorced from actively resisting what is lawful yet immoral and working to promote the alternative kingdom where the moral authority to rule is God's alone. That's what being salt and light is all about! People rarely change systems from the outside-in. The change comes from within. Our light shines brightest amidst the darkness. Our salt adds flavor to the bitterness.

—

February 15, 2026

Gospel: Matthew 17:1-9

Rev. Dr. Eric Barreto, “Not Knowing (A Sermon)”

Peter preached more than he was ready to believe, he said more than he understood. Sometimes that’s how the Spirit moves among us. 

Sometimes God will teach us words to say to the grieving. Not knowing what we are saying. 

Sometimes God will teach us to sing a song about the breadth and depth of God’s grace we will never fully understand. Not knowing what we are saying. 

Sometimes God will teach us to speak words of forgiveness and repair. Not knowing what we are saying. 

Sometimes God will teach us how to love one another, even to love our enemies. Not knowing what we are saying.

Rev. Emmy Kegler

Emmy Kegler is a queer Christian mom, author, pastor, and speaker called to ministry at the margins of the church.

Emmy has a Master’s in Divinity from Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minn., and is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. She was raised in the Episcopal Church and spent some time in evangelical and non-denominational traditions before finding her home in the ELCA. For six years she served as the pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Northeast Minneapolis, a small servant-hearted neighborhood congregation focused on feeding the hungry and community outreach, where she co-founded the Queer Grace Community, a group of LGBTQIA+ Christians in the Twin Cities meeting for worship, Bible study, and fellowship.

Emmy’s first book, One Coin Found: How God’s Love Stretches to the Margins, tells her story as a queer Christian called to ordained ministry and how it formed her relationship with Scripture. Her second book, All Who Are Weary: Easing the Burden on the Walk with Mental Illness, offers a pastoral and Scriptural accompaniment to those facing symptoms and diagnoses of mental illness along with the families, friends, communities, pastors, and therapists who care for them.

When her son was born, Emmy transitioned out of called ministry. She now serves as the Editor of the Church Anew blog, where she helps curate an amazing collection of new and long-time authors that share a fresh, bold, and faithful witness for the church.

As a preacher and writer, she is passionate about curating worship and theological practices that dismantle barriers to those historically marginalized by Christian practice. She believes in and works for a church rooted in accessibility, intentionality, integrity, and transformation, knowing that God is already out ahead of us creating expansive space for those most hungry for the good and liberating news of Jesus.

Emmy lives in Minneapolis and has a life full of preschooler-chasing alongside her wife Michelle.

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