I wanted to try something different this week and summarize the readings for you in just a few sentences for each reading: Jeremiah: Those who trust in human strength and turn away from God are cursed. They live without hope in barrenness. But those who trust in God are like trees planted near a river….
We sometimes think that one of the first things that Jesus did was to call the disciples. But as we heard in Luke 4:14, Jesus began to teach in the synagogues of Galilee before returning to Nazareth and the confrontation that happens which we have heard about the previous two weeks. Following this event, the…
One of the challenges of preaching on days where we have readings that are so well-known, like the one from 1 Corinthians today, is that people often already have an opinion and so they think they know the reading in and out. And so familiarity breeds a challenge. Virtually everyone loves these words we hear…
I wonder… I wonder, what was Jesus feeling as he read the scriptures that day in the synagogue? Was he anxious or afraid to tell them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”? I wonder if he worried about what the people would think of him making such a claim. I wonder if…
Now THAT is a lot of wine! Between 120 and 180 gallons of wine. And you’ll notice that they were not earthenware containers typically used for holding wine, but rather stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification – the washing of hands and vessels. Let’s take a step back and look at the…
What does bubble wrap have to do with our church today? I hesitated to ask the Bishop’s permission to transfer Epiphany to this Sunday, as the Book of Common Prayer states that the seven Principal Feasts (of which the Epiphany of Our Lord is one) are to be celebrated on the day on which they…
Please read Pastor Jason’s Christmas Letter.
How do you reflect God’s light after the Christmas season? The countries of our world continue to make decisions about whether and how to accept refugees. Here in the United States, we call these refugees who come into the U.S. without proper documentation “illegal aliens”. I’m sure that many of them certainly wish that they…
We are a society of answers, not of questions. We like to be able to tie up our ideas in a brief series of statements, things that we believe, not questions we have. And yet, the birth of the savior over two thousand years ago was itself filled with questions, pieces of the story unanswered….
Today we lit the fourth candle of the Advent wreath. In some traditions, the candles represent (consecutively), hope, love or faith, joy, and peace. Some of you have been waiting anxiously for the fourth candle. Others of you waiting expectantly. Some have been waiting in deep grief. Others have been waiting with a threatening diagnosis….
Can anyone tell by observing OUR lives that we bear the mark of Christ and are living as his faithful disciples? There are undoubtedly many people in the pews this week who are beginning to wonder about the whole season of Advent. After all, the mood within our lectionary readings — one of expectancy and…
How will you answer the announcer of God’s word? You could miss that the word of God comes to John (the Baptist), son of Zechariah. The word is a holy revelation embedded deep within multiple layers of context – political, familial, prophetic. Before the word can come to John, Luke paints a picture of the governors,…
