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Category Archives: homily
Perpetua and her companions
It is always a question, isn’t it, when we read of these martyrs, what we would do? How we would face the crisis, the challenge to our faith, the pleas of friends and family to save ourselves, to care for our own interests – or theirs – in place of the way of the Cross. Continue reading
The day after
In the days of Noah, God saw that “the earth was filled with violence” (Genesis 6:11b), and so “God said to Noah, ‘I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them’” (Genesis 6:13). Continue reading
Posted in gun violence, homily, sermon
Tagged #Parkland, Genesis 6-9, gun violence, Kansas City, Lent 1 Year B, mercy, Noah, Ohio
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Christmas Day 2023
The solidity of a sculpture, the fragility of glass, the intricacy of brushwork, the multivalency of language, the mystery of music, the bodies of dance, art become flesh: all of these are ways that we communicate with one another and seek to understand the human condition, even the divine. And God, who danced across the waters of creation and descended like a dove and painted the sky with stars and whispered loud words into the brains of prophets: this God who would stop at nothing to let us know that God is with us, became flesh, took on the language of love, of touch, of breath, of death, of life. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, homily
Tagged art, Christmas Day, creation, Incarnation, John 1:1-14
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Christmas Eve 2023
It is a sign of God’s love for us that in tenderness and innocence, in vulnerability and humility, God became not the heir to a kingly throne but the passing tenant of a stableful of animals. It matters that God chose to come among us not at the head of a battalion of angels come to join in our warring ways, but to be born from within us, to convert us from the inside out into people charged with carrying and feeding and tending to and growing the love of God among us. For with God, nothing will be impossible. Continue reading
Posted in current events, holy days, homily, sermon
Tagged Christmas Eve, Christmas story, Incarnation
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Advent IV: Impossible love
The angel didn’t need to oversell the child, the mundanity of human love, which is become the love of God made manifest, evidence that God loves us despite the risk, despite our sin, despite our pain, because God delights in us, because God is love. Continue reading
Posted in advent meditations, homily, sermon
Tagged family, grief, Incarnation, love of God, Luke 1:26-38, year b advent 4
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Lucy and the Light of the World
I think of the long aperture of a camera taking pictures of the night; instant to instant, our eyes see only the tiniest pinpricks in the darkness, but left open to the sky, the camera is able to absorb and interpret those tiny messages into images of great light and beauty; images of hope. Continue reading
Posted in advent meditations, holy days, homily, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Bethlehem, Desmond Tutu, Holy Land, John 1:9-14, John Donne, light, light of the world, manger, Saint Lucy, war
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The cornerstone of mercy
The constant between these two parables is the vineyard, the symbol of God’s loving care and tending to God’s people. In both stories, others are invited into that loving care with, let’s call them, mixed results. Continue reading
Transfiguration and the transformative gospel
I enjoy a cleverly devised myth as much as the next person; but what sustains me is this: that I know that God is with us, that God loves us more than we love life itself; that when the world is too loud, or stuns us into silence, Christ is still speaking in that still, small voice, the language of mercy. Listen to him. Continue reading
Judge not?
There is but one judge whose acumen is trustworthy and true. Fortunately, God is infamous for steadfast forbearance, slow to anger, and abiding in great mercy. Continue reading
Posted in homily, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Beth Kissileff, judge not, Matthew 7:1-5, Stephen holmgren, Tree of Life
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Easter 2023: it’s (still) a love story
It isn’t like any love story we could conjure up, because it is true, a true story: Jesus lived among us, the Son of God was crucified, descended to the dead, and on the third day rose again, and he could not wait to greet his beloved disciples on the road, could not wait to see their shining, astonished faces; he could not wait to love them back. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, homily, lectionary reflection, sermon, story
Tagged Easter, Jesus, love story, Resurrection
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