Before we get into the stories, let's set the scene. Jesus is beside the shore again, and with another large crowd. He has crossed the Sea of Galilee at least four times now -- last week we heard about one of those crossings, when a sudden storm came up and nearly swamped the boat. Mark's Gospel seems eager to underscore…
Or maybe it is emotional healing that you most seek tonight -- maybe healing for a marriage that has grown stormy or cold, or resolution of a difficulty between friend and friend, or parent and child, or neighbor and neighbor. Is there a relationship in your life in which communication has broken down, or mistrust has built up, or
These are worthy questions to tackle, although it may relieve you to know that I am not going to take two hours and address them now. What I do want to say is that this morning seems a good time at least to mention the existence of such questions. Today is the last Sunday of the Easter season, the Sunday…
Macdonald thought “it seemed a little early in the narrative for this much enthusiasm,” so he assumed he had made a mistake -- maybe he had mispronounced the words in Navajo. So he tried again: “It was early in the morning...'” This time he heard an even louder and more enthusiastic Yes. After Communion, the bishop went up to on
You and I hear the events of Holy Week in relation to what is on our hearts and minds just now, and for me, the words and actions of Holy Week take place this year in relation to the distress of the natural world. Sometimes it seems that I can almost hear the relentless melting of glaciers as our climate…
So I find it interesting that on this Sunday for refreshment, this Sunday for rejoicing, our assigned readings from Hebrew Scripture and from the Gospels focus directly or indirectly on the cross. These two passages are in fact the same ones that we hear in September on Holy Cross Day. We may associate the cross with a lot of things,…
Then comes the funny bit. This act of hospitality is met with a promise so patently absurd that Sarah, who is secretly listening at the entrance to the tent, bursts out laughing. Her husband is 100 years old and she is 90. They are no spring chickens, either one of them, so how can their pleasant but obviously rather obtuse…
I laughed. Well, I thought, laughter is a good thing. Laughter breaks open the mind. And I think that is the point of the story: when we find ourselves in Christ's presence, our minds break open. We awaken. We see the world with new eyes. We understand afresh, as the poet says, that “the world is charged with the grandeur…
Who are the Wise Men?
Nobody knows. Some scholars say they were Zoroastrian priests from Persia. Others say they were Babylonian astrologers. Still others say they were astronomers or philosophers. Despite the familiar hymn, “We Three Kings,“ the Gospel never tells us that they were kings or that there were three of
But -- talk about disruption! Check out this morning's Gospel. The angel comes to Mary and announces a great disruption in Mary's life: she will conceive and bear a son; she will name him Jesus -- that is, the one who saves. He will be called the Son of the Most High, and his kingdom will have no end. Mary…
