Tag Archives: community

What would St Luke say?

What would St Luke say about getting a booster for the COVID19 vaccine as available? Perhaps it is not too much of a stretch to imagine that he, in sympathy and solidarity with his physician colleagues and support staff would welcome it. Perhaps it is not too forward to imagine that he would promote every measure to keep his community safe and well and together, to relieve the burdens of those who care for the health of others, and to increase the common good.  Continue reading

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Keeping promises

I have no doubt that God was with me in that river, whose banks Jesus knew, whose rapids perhaps he had played in. I have no doubt that God would have stayed with me, whether I lived or died that day. But in order to remain alive, in that moment, I also needed my people, the little community of foreigners with whom I had set out that morning in a black tyre inner tube to float down the river towards the Sea of Galilee. Continue reading

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Wrestling and rest

Why isn’t it easier to live as a saint? Continue reading

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Year C Epiphany 1: Come, Holy Spirit

The Gospels take a lot of short cuts through the life of Jesus. Whether they begin at his baptism, as does Mark, when he is already fully grown and ready to set out into the wilderness of temptation, and the … Continue reading

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Year B Lent 5: love with the lights on

It’s a big decision, to turn on the light, invite someone into your face, into your space, into your truth, your way, your life. Continue reading

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Heart of darkness

I’ll readily (although not happily) admit that I am pretty naive about race. I grew up in the dark about my own white privilege, my own native prejudice and naive misconceptions. I moved to another country, with its own complicated racial … Continue reading

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Religious rituals and summer Sunday attendance

Two days after my mother died, at half past five in the morning, I heard a strange noise outside my bedroom window, the window of the spare bedroom in my parent’s house. It was a rasping, grinding, rolling, grunting, sighing … Continue reading

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How do we keep the dream alive today?

A reflection offered at the community celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr, hosted by Lakeshore Christian Church, Euclid, Ohio One year ago today, I stood in a room downtown before a federal judge, and I took an oath, and some … Continue reading

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Year C Epiphany 1: For us, and for our salvation

After Christmas, after Epiphany, we come to the baptism of Jesus. In a way, this story is the culmination and confirmation of everything that has happened up to now. An angel announced his conception. Faithful even before he was born, … Continue reading

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Year B: All Saints

I want to talk today about baptism, and our participation in our baptismal covenant. Baptism is and has always been an important stage in the Christian journey: it was one of the two sacraments commanded and enacted by Jesus himself, … Continue reading

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