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,…
Advent originated as a penitential observance, focused on God’s call as redeemer and judge of all time. Today begins the church’s new year. It seems counterintuitive to the way in which we usher in our new year on January 1 with all the hype and celebration. Advent, though, sets our celebration of the coming of…
Thanksgiving is a spiritual practice Before it was a noun, “thanksgiving” was a verb. The difference matters. A desert father once said: “If you have a chest full of oranges, and leave it for a long time, the fruit will rot inside of it. It is the same with the thoughts in our heart. If we…
The aim of the gospel of John is clearly stated in the last verse of its last Chapter. John 20:31 states, “But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” The question of…
This week’s sermon took the form of an instructed Eucharist.
I don’t often turn to the King James Version of the Bible, for I find wading through the Elizabethan language to be problematic. But this week’s Gospel reading is an exception. Let me read for you one passage from today’s Gospel in the standard lectionary version and then the King James Version: NRSV KJV Jesus…
How do you deal with those you find difficult to love? “‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ … ‘You shall love your neighbor as…
Many sternly ordered Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many tried to hush him up, but he yelled even louder. Throughout history, the lame and the blind who have been obliged to beg for their food have sought to benefit…
In his book Jesus Among Other Gods, Ravi Zacharias relays a story that Sir Isaac Newton, the great scientist and mathematician, had a dog that he loved very much. Wherever Newton went, the dog went with him. One time he had worked for months on a theory about the nature of the universe, working late…
Today’s Gospel reading is radical: a rich, young man asks Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” In response, Jesus tells him that he is lacking in one thing, and instructs him to go and sell what he has and give to the poor. I mean, this is a pretty radical thing to…
