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Category Archives: lectionary reflection
Destined
One was destined to be lost so that the ninety-nine could wonder why a good shepherd would leave them alone to go looking for the lamb of perdition, imagining him already fallen beyond rescue into the valley filled with shadows … Continue reading
If …
A sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter. The theme tune for this sermon was “If”, by Bread. (No, I don’t usually give sermons a theme tune, but this one just seemed to lend itself …) There is a word … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged 1 John 5:1-6, Easter 6 Year B, John 15:9-17, love one another, unconditional
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How to command love
Can love be commanded?Does the demanding not crucify love?Gentleness can be commanded, surely – the salve, the oil – resistance, too, the other cheek slowly turned to point away from violence. Feed my sheep can be commanded, break the bread, … Continue reading
God is love
The call to love is the call of the cross; the call to be true to God’s mission of redeeming love for the world in the face of all that is against it. It is the memory of Jesus in the Garden, resisting evil not with violence but with a healing touch; submitting his own human will for control to the knowledge of God’s power to create new life even out of the compost of this world’s decay. Rooted and grounded in him, what could we become? Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
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Good Shepherd Sunday: no other Name
Let us not pretend that there is any name – Smith, Wesson, Glock, Remington – by which we may be saved, but only the name of Jesus. Let us not pretend that there is any power in us to save ourselves, except the power of love that Jesus has demonstrated for us, to lay down our lives, little by little, piece by piece, for our neighbours, for love, for the love of God. Continue reading
Posted in gun violence, homily, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged 1John 3:16-24, Acts 3-4, Good Shepherd, gun violence, Jesus, John 10:11-18, Lectionary Lab, Name of Jesus, Psalm 23, sheep, Year B Easter 4
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Give me something to eat
Of course they had fish – remember who they were. Like little boys with their little loaves and a few small fish, watching his hands as they broke the flesh pierced by their hooks into pieces; they fed him as … Continue reading
For fear
In fact, Jesus himself may be our best guide and interpreter of the language of John’s Gospel that we find hard to hear and understand. Jesus, who taught his followers from the scriptures that he knew the best that the way of God is love; that the promises of God are faithful; that the mercy of God endures; that the justice of God does not set a sword between peoples but sacrifices itself for their reconciliation. Continue reading
Posted in homily, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged anti-Semitism, Easter 2, Gaza, Israel, Jesus, John 20:19-31, John the Evangelist, the Jews, war
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Easter 2024
We believe, without the benefit of angels or appearances, that he rose from the dead, that the Roman Empire, greatest superpower in history, could do their worst to kill him, but that they could not destroy him.
We believe that in the midst of trouble, in the midst of unrest and unease, in the midst of our lives, there is no grave that can hold God hostage. We believe that Jesus is risen, and hope has been unleashed. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Easter, hope, Jesus, Mark 16:1-8, Resurrection
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And what of the colt?
It knew, as animals do, more than the crowd, felt beneath its hooves the blood of the branches, stones slickened with sap, the vibrations of voices hungry for release; heard the heartbeat of the man astride its back, how it … Continue reading
Lazarus campaigns against the death penalty
This is a #preparingforSundaywithpoetry prologue post. At last evening’s Bible study, we noticed the “Lazarus framework“ to John’s Palm Sunday story (if you’re using Mark, another poem from the pov of the colt is coming). No wonder, we said, authorities … Continue reading
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