Tag Archives: Jesus

Year C Proper 16: Jeremiah and Jesus

The Book of Jeremiah is a complicated document, and there are many scholarly debates about its history and its voices, its purpose and its people. What we read at its beginning, though, is a classic call story. “Here,” says God, … Continue reading →

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Assumption

She spent a lot of time running away from reality. When she was young, she ran to the hill country. She sang revolutionary songs that she couldn’t hope to realize. She ran to Egypt, where the fires burn and courage … Continue reading →

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Year C Proper 13: the divine economy

There are some doors that money doesn’t open; there are some palms that cannot be greased. When Jesus is asked to interfere in a family financial dispute, he declines. Sort it out between yourselves, he tells them. Deal rightly with … Continue reading →

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Strange gifts

For the feast of Joseph of Arimathea: The gift of a place to rest in peace. A quiet tomb. A hillside full of life and new growth. A garden; paradise on earth. The tenderness of a cradling arm, swaddling clothes. … Continue reading →

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Martha, Mary and the midwife’s advice

Here’s how I’d like the story to go: Martha: lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” Jesus: “lads, Simon, Andrew, James, Whatsyername, you … Continue reading →

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Year C Proper 7: Angels and demons

In some ways, the man healed of demons in the Gerasene region of Galilee is the first preacher of the Christian gospel. He gets it – he really does! Even after years of torment at the mercy of a legion … Continue reading →

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Year C Proper 6: the sinful woman and Mary of Magdala

The question came up during our Tuesday bible study week whether the sinner who anoints Jesus’ feet in the Gospel according to Luke is, in fact, Mary Magdalene, mentioned further down the page. There is a long tradition in the … Continue reading →

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Year C Proper 5: if I make my bed in the grave

The fact that the stories we hear today, which echo one another so clearly that these two women might have been related, one the great-great grandmother of the other, a sister several times removed; the fact that these stories revolve … 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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Trinity Sunday 2013

(A sermon I won’t be there to preach, ironically because I am “suffering” from shingles. But my love and prayers are with the parish of Epiphany this morning, and I’m so glad to be in a relationship with them.) I … Continue reading →

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