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Category Archives: lectionary reflection
Stand up for Advent
Do not become consumed by signs of turmoil. Stand up. Raise your heads. Give voice to the gospel. Expect God. Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Advent, Bethlehem, climate change, gospel, gun violence, Holy Land, immigration, Luke 21:25-36, St Nicholas, Year C Advent 1
2 Comments
The widow’s might
what if the widow’s mite was hope, and she spent all she had to live on
Posted in haiku, lectionary reflection, poetry, prayer
Tagged Mark 12:38-44, widow's mite, Year B Proper 27
1 Comment
Salt and sabbatical
But that is the theology of Thomas the Tank Engine, who longs only to hear the Fat Controller call him “a useful little engine.” It is not the theology found in the Bible nor in the Word of God, Jesus the Christ, who celebrates the meek and the helpless, the poor in spirit and the hopeless, the errant and the outcast, the ungodlike. Continue reading
Posted in current events, lectionary reflection, prayer, sermon
Tagged James 5:13-20, Jesus, Mark 9:38-50, theology, Thomas the Tank Engine, Year B Proper 21
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Conjuring Esther
Esther has become difficult to read. Her story makes me angry and afraid. We read it like a fairytale. But like so many fairytales, it teems with themes of horror dressed up in satin and silk. Continue reading
Posted in current events, lectionary reflection, sermon preparation, story
Tagged #ChurchToo, #metoo, Esther, sex trafficking
2 Comments
The great and the good
And now Jesus was stuck on the floor with a sleeping baby, his hands full, his feet with no feeling left in them, and the child’s mother had gone back to work. There was nothing for it but to continue to wait on the baby, serving it with patience and with love. … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged children, church, greatness, Jesus, love, Mark 8:27-38, Year B Proper 20
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Love, lies, and blessing
We can protect our tongues from bitterness and our souls from shame by keeping to the truth, and holding fast to the hope that Christ has set before us, and following him, step by step, word by word, in the way of the cross, the way of God’s unimaginable love, for all whom God has made in the image of the living God. Continue reading
Posted in blessings, current events, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Graham Greene, James 3:1-12, Mark 8:27-38, way of the cross
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Love and death
It isn’t the approval of God that fills us with hope in the face of the unknown journey into life beyond death. It isn’t even the mercy of God that helps our souls to sing “Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia” at the grave. Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged funerals, Jesus, love, Song of Solomon, Song of Songs, Year B Proper 17
2 Comments
Bread of life
I knew, in my body and in my soul and in the core of my being that what was offered at that altar was something I needed, something I wanted, something I could not live without. I still can’t quite explain it; I still know that it is true. Continue reading
Posted in homily, lectionary reflection, sermon, story
Tagged Bread of Life, Eucharist, Holy Communion, Incarnation, John 6:51-58
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Bread and miracles
The feeding of the five thousand is reported in every gospel because that story of Jesus taking bread, and giving thanks, and breaking it open reminds us of the love that God has for us, which is poured out for us as often as we seek it, as much as we need it, as long as we are hungry for it; and not only for us alone but for every stranger on the hillside who holds out her hands for a crumb of comfort. The miracle, the thing which is beyond our understanding, the extent and reach, the abundance of God’s love for us. Continue reading
Bathsheba goes to General Convention
Jesus was descended from a line of kings, from David. There’s no avoiding it. We hear him called the son of David, we know that he is of the house of David, and if we look back at the genealogies in Matthew and in Luke, whether they name him through the line of Solomon or of Nathan, David’s sons, they both seem to agree that when Jesus’ line descended from David, his foremother was Bathsheba. Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged #metoo, Bathsheba, David, Ephesians 3:18-19, Ephesians 3:20-21, feeding of the five thousand, Jesus, sexual harassment, Uriah
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over the water 