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Category Archives: lectionary reflection
Lullaby for the end of the world
This Sunday’s readings are a little apocalyptic; whether one reads Daniel and Mark, or Hannah’s proto-Magnificat, change is in the air, and much of it alarming. Jürgen Moltmann believes that the Christian should not be afraid of the end of … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon preparation
Tagged apocalypse, birth, chaplaincy, Daniel 12:1-3, Mark 13:1-8, pain, Resurrection, Year B Proper 28
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Lazarus, unbound
Feeling the ground with his hands, touching the soil with his feet, kissing the earth, Lazarus, unbound, raises his face to see his friends retreat – in fear they have let him go – stares at Jesus with eyes too … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, sermon preparation
Tagged biblical imagination, conversion, Jesus, John 11, Lazarus
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Threading the needle
First, unpack your camel. Divest it of its commodities: sugar, salt, and spices, unguents, oils, perfume, all excisable goods must go; hold a trunk sale if you must. Next, take off its defences; not only the cannons and the turret … Continue reading
Year B Proper 19: Jesus, losers, the cross, and The Donald
Are we ashamed of the continuing bitterness of the world, and Christ’s endurance of it? Do we wish in our hearts that he would come down off that cross and smash it with their mallets and pile the pieces into a funeral pyre for all death and suffering, all grief and strife? Of course. Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, sermon preparation
Tagged cross, Donald MacKinnon, Donald Trump, Jesus, Resurrection, shame, Year B Proper 19
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A vain and foolish thing
Vain and foolish, one would not think that with no animal spirit, nor soul, no mind of its own, but an idle thing could inspire such passion, such pain, such tearing, such rending of hearts, of lives apart; only with … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, prayer, sermon preparation
Tagged Deuteronomy 4, gun control, gun violence, Mark. 7, WBDJ, Year B Proper 17
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The strange story of Barry Baker
There are occasional joys in being a borderline hoarder. This week at Bible Study, we were looking at the Gospel for the coming Sunday, and feeling as bewildered as the poor people in the passage wondering what the devil Jesus … Continue reading
more than watchmen for the morning
In the silence before the dawn,
in the fearful shadows that embalm
the edges of sleep, each sound
is amplified: Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, prayer
Tagged absence, God, prayer, Psalm 130
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Unmiracle
A miracle is, by definition, unlikely to happen. When our daughter was ten, I lost her in the woods. She was ten, and actively honing her skills in defiance, contrariness, and flouncing. It was our first visit after moving away, … Continue reading
Posted in current events, lectionary reflection, prayer, story
Tagged 2Kings 4, Elisha, lost and missing, miracles, Sidney Heidrick, Year B Proper 12
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Family entertainment
“Off with his head!” cried the Queen of Hearts. It had all begun much earlier, with a powerless princess, pawn pushed about in a dizzying dance by the Queen and her King; the Bishop turned slantwise away, his excited disapproval … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry
Tagged Alice in Wonderland, John the Baptist, Salome
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Haikonic afterthoughts
On blasphemy against the Holy Spirit Blasphemy: wilful submission to delusions of divinity Blasphemy: pinching out air, pressing the human back into the clay Blasphemy: wilful misinterpretation of the mercy of God
over the water 