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The Scriptures this week seem to be challenging us to see (and trust) that the world as we know it, with all its brokenness and its inequalities, needs to be allowed to die in some form so that the new life of God’s desired way of being can emerge. Sentence: “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 10:39 Collect: Creator God, Life giving Redeemer, Spirit that brings new life to bear, Grant us courage to trust

Our readings this week touch upon many important subjects. When read together I am challenged that the decision to follow, to be obedient, begins for us with a decision to step out, often into a place of discomfort or vulnerability, but to actually get started with the living of our faith before we are sure of everything. (Third Sunday after Pentecost. Proper 6 [11]. Genesis 18:1-15, 21:1-7; Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19 [or Exodus 19:2-8a; Psalm 100]; Romans 5:1-8; and Matthew 9:35-1

And so we begin the Season after Pentecost by returning to the story of the call of the disciple Matthew. But our gospel and other texts (Proper 5 [10], Genesis 12:1-9; Psalm 33:1-12; Romans 4:13-25: and Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26) speaks to an already radical and rather inconvenient gospel message – that the life giving truth is being shared with those who are dubious, that Jesus enjoys the company of those on the edge of proper society, and that membership is simply to know and

Speaking of God as three yet one, if nothing else, should lead us into humility, wonder, and curiosity! At the very heart of the Divine is mystery, relationship, and movement. The church has worked very hard on the doctrine of the Trinity and wonderful work continues to be done. But we should be humble and cautious enough to know that whatever we think we know, whatever glorious or mechanistic metaphors we put forward, they are but fleeting shadows of the power and vibrant na

Christ is risen, he is risen indeed, Hallelujah! “We are a resurrection people and Hallelujah is our song”. (Easter Day. Matthew 28:1-10.) One of the things we do come Easter, after a long and sober Lent, is we break out the hymns with Hallelujah in them! Hallelujah comes from the Hebrew and means God be praised! It is an expression of adoration and worship, of joyful celebration. It is sometimes a chorus of great and glorious certainty and sometimes, as Leonard Cohen remin

Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week and the time we hear of our Lord’s passion for us and remember the last week of his human life: the culmination of his life of self-emptying love and obedience. We enter into Jerusalem with our Lord and progress toward the last meal, the garden, the cross and the tomb. (Palm Sunday. Matthew 21:1-11 and 26:14-46; Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-18; Philippians 2:5-11) Sentence: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, tho

Lent always begins this way - with us accompanying Jesus into the wilderness. We come to witness his journey towards Jerusalem and the cross for us. And we come to learn how and where we too must travel through life and death into new life. Sentence: “Therefore just as one person’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one person’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all.” Romans 5:18 Collect: Compassionate God, We step out on the path your Beloved S

The journey of Lent and Easter is a remembering and discovering that life comes out of death and it begins with Ash Wednesday and the solemn reminder that we are but dust and to dust we shall return! We remember that this was the journey of Jesus for us and as one of us. And we discover that this is our journey also. An interior journey that we make in the company of others. Sentence: “And whenever you fast, do not look somber, like the hypocrites, for they mark their faces t

Celebrating The Transfiguration just before Lent reminds us that the fully human one – Jesus who fully enters our life and struggles and will experience the reality of violence and death - is also the fully divine one. A being who shines with holy light. It is as though for a moment the full nature of Jesus is revealed so that we might know who he was and who we are called to become. No one less that God’s fullness has come to dwell with us in the ruins of our individual and

If we are indeed to become salt of the earth and a light on a hill we need to locate ourselves in the tradition of justice and mercy, right action and compassion, that the prophets spoke so challengingly about. (Fifth Sunday after Epiphany. Matthew 5:13-20; Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12); Psalm 112:1-10; and 1 Corinthians 2:1-12.) Sentence: “Is this not the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break

Still in the season of Epiphany - the season of seeing and feeling how the coming of the light is both a beacon of hope and a disturber of those who do not want change or righteousness or mercy to come - still the readings come that speak into our conflicted experience at this time. (Fourth Sunday after Epiphany. Matthew 5:1-12; Micah 6:1-8; Psalm 15; and 1 Corinthians 1:18-31.) Sentence: “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us wh

Many of us have heard, or even preached, a stirring message on being called to discipleship based on these texts (Third Sunday after Epiphany. Matthew 4:12-23; Isaiah 9:1-4; Psalm 27; and 1 Corinthians 1:10-18.). Mostly suggesting that it is personal darkness and sin that we are called out of. And yes, many persons have found the light in response to being called and answering that call. And many more individuals are still in need of the light and repentance and redemption. B