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Tag Archives: Jesus
What we learn from one another
A poem towards Maundy Thursday Some days later, stretching out his hand to pluck an olive to his puckered mouth he remembered her hands and her hair, how the scent of nard filled his mind, overwhelming the taste of the food with the sweet and … Continue reading
Posted in poetry, prayer, preparing for Sunday with poetry
Tagged anointing, footwashing, Holy Week, Jesus, John 12, John 13, Mary of Bethany, Maundy Thursday
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Palm Sunday 2024
If we are still looking for a military ruler, or a magician, or a mighty Messiah, we had better look elsewhere. What Jesus offers us is merely the humility, servitude, self-sacrifice, self-abandonment of an all-encompassing, death-defeating love: the creative, life-giving, all-absorbing love of God that will not let us go, nor let us down, nor leave us alone. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, sermon
Tagged Alan E. Lewis, Incarnation, Jesus, Lazarus, Palm Sunday, passion, theology
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War
I want to write about the unbearable irony of dry breasts in a land of milk and honey, the bitter taste of hunger among the olive groves, but I am not qualified. Instead, I will contemplate the crumpled faces of … Continue reading
Posted in current events, poetry, story
Tagged Gaza, Holy Week, hunger, Israel, Jerusalem, Jesus, Luke 23:29, promised land, starvation, war
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Love builds up
Knowledge is like a little bird making itself look large by fluffing up its feathers; it warms the bird, it helps the bird, it protects the bird at times; it is all for the bird’s own good.
Love is like the bird that builds a nest, patiently searching for just the right materials to stop the draught and secure the foundation for its family, who stocks it with food when the eggs are incubating, who creates the conditions for new life to flourish. Love is the bird who comes back and starts again when it all goes wrong because of the storms or the predators or the sadness of the world. Love builds up. Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged 1 Corinthians 8:1-13, authority, Jesus, love, Mark 1:21-28, Year B Epiphany 4
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Cast out
Demons shake and scream; for God alone my soul in silence waits. Something deep within mutters “unclean”; for God alone my soul in silence waits. Power demands authority, but humility whispers and spirits writhe. For God alone my soul in … Continue reading
Fisher
You flee again to Galilee, another Herod, another threat, kings and prophets always at odds and you, raised with the memory of blood and fire, fishing for another way, the kingdom of God, as it were, silver-scaled and just, within … Continue reading
Two or three
Two or three: Jesus why are you afraid to be too alone with me? ______________ #preparingforSundaywithpoetry. This Sunday’s Gospel is full of numbers – no, not of numbers, of people, unalone. Matthew 18:15-20
… But do not be afraid
A sermon for the first week of the Chautauqua Institution season, 2023, Year A Proper 7 _____________ There’s nothing like starting in the middle. With no context, no backstory to soften the blow, we arrive for a week at Chautauqua … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon, story
Tagged family, family divisions, Jesus, Matthew 10:23-39, sparrow, Year A Proper 7
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Mercy
Learn what this means, he says: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. But mercy, pitiless in its command, requires the sacrifice of satisfaction, Schadenfreude, vengeance. Righteous indignation; the bitter little consolations that coddle a sore, soured, soul. It makes one wonder, honestly, if he truly, truly understands the meaning of either Word. … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, prayer, sermon preparation
Tagged Hosea 6:6, Jesus, Matthew 9:9-13, mercy, sacrifice, Year A Proper 5
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Unhinged
I am a gate, I swing this way and that, inviting you to step into my dance, leading with the song you have heard before: creak and sigh of hungry humanity herded like sheep by fear and faith by turns. … Continue reading
