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Tag Archives: Jesus
(Un)Documented
But, Luke shows us, what we document, what we record, whom we remember is a choice. It is a choice that reflects what we consider to be important. Luke recognizes the culture of a world that requires context, but he also sees where God is at work in the wilderness, in the oddball person of faith standing in a river of prayer. He pivots quickly from the traditional seats of power because he sees, too, the one making a way out of rocks and rifts and building bridges where none seemed possible. Because Luke has seen Christ coming, and he knows that all manner of heaven is about to break loose. Continue reading
Posted in advent meditations, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Advent, faith, Jesus, John the Baptist, Luke 3, Year C Advent 2
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Advent: out of time
Advent is an odd season, a disruption of the calendar. We look forward to the birth of Christ which happened millennia ago in our history. We look back through the apocalyptic scriptures which told generation after generation that they were living through the end of the world. Time is out of joint, and we are unsettled by it. But it is in this break, through this fracture, that the light of Christ shines, through clouds and glory … Continue reading
Posted in advent meditations, lectionary reflection, sermon, story
Tagged 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13, apocalypse, Jesus, Luke 21:25-36, Year C Advent 1
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Christ the King (or, the king is not the thing)
One of my favourite biblical reflections on kingship and humanity is Jotham’s parable from the book of Judges:
The trees decided to anoint themselves a king. First, they asked the olive tree: Come be our king! But the olive tree did not want to give up its vocation to produce oil for anointing, to honour and to heal, in order to govern other trees. So they asked the fig tree. But it would not give up its vocation to feed people and animals, birds, and all with its sweet goodness, so it declined. So, too, the vine, when asked, said why would I give up wine-making in order to govern other trees? Finally, they asked the bramble. The bramble, said, if you can find shelter under me, fine, go ahead; but if you are pricked by my thorns and shut out or caught up in my briars, it will be the worse for you. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, homily, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Christ the King, Jesus, John 18:33-37, Judges 9:7-15, neo-nazis, parable of the trees, Pilate
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All that we had to live on
The world is sorely in need of good news, and I encourage you, not only this week, but in the weeks and months and years to come to continue to check in with and hang out with and care for those who feel as though they have given all that they had to live on, and have no hope left. For those who feel as though they have given all that they had to live on, and have been devoured by the systems of this world.
Because we have more than enough to live on. We have the hope that is in Jesus, the comfort of Emmanuel, knowing that God is with us whether we are on top of the world or lying wrapped up in the tomb. We have mercy, and we have one another. Continue reading
All she had to live on
As Jesus taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation. He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. … Continue reading
Witness
A sermon for All Saints Sunday We all know about Lazarus, don’t we? Lazarus has become a byword for those who return from the dead. In paleontology, Lazarus names those species that disappear from the fossil record as though extinct, … Continue reading
Posted in holy days, homily, sermon
Tagged All Saints, grief, Isaiah 25:6-9, Jesus, John 11:32-44, Lazarus, love, Year B All Saints
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Jesus wept
To suffer the indignity of grief, that utter exhaustion of the spirit that has sucked hope from the air too long after the dew has dried; the kind of defeat that drives you to your knees and elbows, heaving with the ground, troubling the very earth upon … Continue reading
Greatness
The body remembers, quakes away a frisson as though the cool river ran still from your shoulders beneath the treacherous sun, hollows out a growl as though still hungry enough to break your teeth on stone, suffer the delirium of … Continue reading
Worth it
It is harder for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle – yet God shrank Godself into a human body, a human soul, a human being, in order to reach us. It is harder for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle – yet God reaches through the eye of the storm to grasp our hands and pull us through. It is harder for the camel to pass through the eye of a needle, yet Jesus looked that young man in the eye, and he loved him. Continue reading
Posted in homily, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged camel, God, Jesus, Mark 10:17-31, rich young man, rich young ruler
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What is the church for?
How do we let people know that we are here for them? Not, as James said a couple of weeks ago, only if they are properly turned out and prompt in their arrival, if they know their way around the service, and sing in tune. I love that in my twelve years with you, there have always been people who come late, leave early, get up and stretch mid-service, act like human beings in the middle of divine worship. Just as Jesus became human with us. And that matters, so much, that we can be human in church, drawn toward the one in whose image we all share. How else do we let people know that we are here if they are sick, if they are suffering, if they are singing, if they are sighing, that they can be human here? Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon, story
Tagged Christianity, church, faith, God, human, James 5:13-20, Jesus, worship, Year B Proper 21
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