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Tag Archives: COVID-19
Bronze serpents and steel needles
The people found their way into the snake-infested territory through impatience, selfish grumbling, ingratitude against God, and concern each for their own comfort over the salvation of the whole people from slavery. As long as each person sat in their own poison, death pursued them. But when they looked to the sign that God had given them of hope and of mercy, they were made better, and not only as individuals, but the community recovered, and they were able to move on from that place. Continue reading
Posted in current events, homily, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged COVID-19, foetal stem cells, John 3:14-17, Moses, Numbers 21:4-9, vaccinations
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On being lost
Today’s Speaking to the Soul at the Episcopal Cafe draws upon my word to the parish for March, as well as a much older memory of being (almost) lost in the wilderness Once, we thought we were lost for real. … Continue reading
Less than forty years
We have been in this wilderness for a year now. It will not take us 40 years to reach its far side, but it will remain a part of our faith story, shaping our lament and our hope for years to come. It has physically altered our prayers and our liturgy. It has called us, like Noah, like Abraham, like Moses, into new ways of being and new understandings of God’s presence with us. Continue reading
Mary and Joseph’s no good, terrible, wonderful year
A homily for Christmas Eve, 2020 At the turning of the year, as the days began to push back against the pushiness of night; as the light grew longer and the shadows shorter, the people were going about their business … Continue reading
Comfort; comfort my people
The good news of Jesus Christ begins with a voice crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way, make straight the paths.” The straight and clear way to prepare love this Christmas is to stay at home. Continue reading
Posted in Advent Meditations, sermon
Tagged 2 Peter 3:8-15, Advent 2 Year B, Christmas, COVID-19, Isaiah 40:1-11, St Nicolas
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On judgement
Only the unjust know no shame, and say that because God does not change the dynamic of cause and effect, but lets us lead human lives of substance, agency, and consequence; only the foolish say that this means that God, our Judge and our Redeemer, does not notice nor care what goes on in our hearts, nor in our homes, nor in our nation. Continue reading
Posted in current events, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, COVID-19, Jesus, judgement, karma, racism, Year A Proper 28, Zephaniah 1, Zephaniah 3
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Promise and practice
Promises require practice. It is our call and our promise to bring comfort to the broken-hearted, to make peace without sacrificing justice, or mercy, for peace cannot survive without them. … It is our call, and our promise, to resist evil, to proclaim the gospel by word and practice, to serve our neighbour as Christ himself, to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being. And God promises us eternal life and an end to this separation, this wrenching of the spirit, not because we do these things, but because Christ does these things. Continue reading
Posted in current events, Holy Days, sermon
Tagged All Saints, baptism, beatitudes, COVID-19, election, grief, Matthew 5:1-12, Romans 8:38-39
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Word, will, work
A sermon for September 27, 2020, at the Church of the Epiphany, Euclid, Ohio. This week Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lay in state at the Capitol. The US passed a grim milestone with 200,000 deaths from COVID-19. One … Continue reading
Elements of creation, currency of compassion
What would we pay to defray the risk of storing explosive chemicals among people’s living spaces? What would we give for an economy that could never be said to depend upon a thousand deaths per day from pandemic to stay afloat? What would we confront in order to be able to offer a cup of clean water to the children of Flint?
What would it take for us to get out of the boat? Continue reading
Free will and freedom
We know from our faith that freedom from tyranny means the freedom not to tyrannize.
Freedom from fear means the freedom not to frighten.
Freedom from oppression offers the freedom not to oppress.
We know from our history that freedom from discrimination only works if we claim the freedom to undo, unravel, repent and repair the damage that has already been done. Continue reading
Posted in current events, sermon
Tagged COVID-19, Independence Day, Matthew 11:16-19 and 25-30, Romans 7:15-25, Zechariah 9:9-12
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