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Tag Archives: Psalm 23
Foundering
As though created in mid-air and surprised, the lamb fell without foothold down the cliff and into the stream where we, speechless, sandwiches halfway to open mouths watched it pick up and shake itself back to life , quiet waters … Continue reading
The compassion of Christ
The compassionate life is tricky enough in the everyday, and my guess is that even the least political among us will find our last nerve twanged by the rhetoric and anxiety and all that will pile onto the social psyche in the coming months. We may be tempted to try to love our enemies into submission. We may be tempted to try to grind out compassion through our clenched teeth. We will not succeed unless we are grounded in the love of Christ … Continue reading
Destined
One was destined to be lost so that the ninety-nine could wonder why a good shepherd would leave them alone to go looking for the lamb of perdition, imagining him already fallen beyond rescue into the valley filled with shadows … Continue reading
Good Shepherd Sunday: no other Name
Let us not pretend that there is any name – Smith, Wesson, Glock, Remington – by which we may be saved, but only the name of Jesus. Let us not pretend that there is any power in us to save ourselves, except the power of love that Jesus has demonstrated for us, to lay down our lives, little by little, piece by piece, for our neighbours, for love, for the love of God. Continue reading
Posted in gun violence, homily, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged 1John 3:16-24, Acts 3-4, Good Shepherd, gun violence, Jesus, John 10:11-18, Lectionary Lab, Name of Jesus, Psalm 23, sheep, Year B Easter 4
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Sheep
Can a sheep teach a wolf to eat grass? To enjoy the tender snap of clover stalk, the flake of its flower upon the red and eager tongue? What does the wolf know or love of green pastures, still less … Continue reading
The faithful shepherd
The Incarnation of Christ is the certainty that God has experienced and undergone all that drags us down into that valley. God is with us in its depths, with rod and staff, the faithful shepherd. Continue reading
Posted in homily, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged consolation, depression, Good Shepherd, grief, Psalm 23
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Let justice roll like a river; still waters can wait
There is no way of praying Psalm 23 truthfully, honestly, lovingly, in this time and place that does not acknowledge that there are no still waters, there can be no resting in meadows, when violence threatens to break in at any moment. There is no peace while injustice holds sway anywhere among us. Continue reading
Why did this happen?
When Jesus and his disciples come across a blind man begging, the disciples ask a question that the sages have answered in various ways throughout the ages: why is there suffering in the world? Why do even the unarguably innocent – babies and children – suffer? Why do we live with these questions from birth and throughout our lives, even in the midst of joy, even in the midst of love, even with Jesus walking right next to us? Continue reading
Posted in current events, sermon, story
Tagged coronavirus, COVID-19, John 9:1-41, Lent, pandemic, Psalm 23, suffering, theodicy
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Year C Easter 4: Washed in the blood of the Lamb
For the past several years, on the Sunday of the Cleveland Marathon, Trinity Cathedral, our Episcopal cathedral downtown, has taken to the streets during its education hour between services to cheer on the runners. The youth group and Sunday school … Continue reading
over the water 