Shining like the sun
Photo by MI PHAM on Unsplash 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 Luke 9:28-36, [37-43a] I don’t know about you, but that reading from 2 Corinthians makes me uneasy. It makes me uneasy because it sounds so anti-Semitic, and humans being humans, I imagine that the idea that Jewish hearts are hardened and their understanding veiled has been used against Jewish people through the centuries. Some commentators think that Paul was simply mistaken in his interpretation of Moses’ veil and as a result disappeared down a…
Turning the Other Cheek
Genesis 45:3-11, 15 1 Corinthians 15:35-38,42-50 Luke 6:27-38 Psalm 37:1-12, 41-42 Many of you probably remember the day you got your first driver’s license-I know I do. I remember the feeling of being empowered to be independently behind the wheel without the need to have a licensed passenger in the vehicle with me, as was the case when I only possessed what they called in those days-a Learner’s Permit. Little did I know the learning was really just about to…
Blessed are the Poor
Photo by Alvin Decena from Pexels Luke 6:17-26 Just before this morning’s gospel opens, Jesus spent a night praying in the mountains alone, and then calling his disciples to him, specially designating 12 of them as apostles. Afterward, as we heard, “Jesus came down with the twelve apostles and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear…
Beacons of Hope
Walton Lighthouse by Rodrigo Soares www.unsplash.com
Gracious Words
Photo by Ales Krivec @ unsplash.com Jeremiah 1:4-10 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Luke 4:21-30 Psalm 71:1-6 I’m in the middle of a rather dense book called “Jesus in the Drama of Salvation” by Raymund Schwager. It was written in German, and the English translation is not always clear to me, so I have to keep rereading paragraphs and it’s a slow process. Also it’s a lot to take in. The author is focusing on a question that bothers me and I…
We are the Body of Christ
Photo by Randy Fath @unsplash.com Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a Luke 4:14-21 Psalm 19 I love Sundays like today when each of the readings overflows with possibility. Let’s start with Nehemiah. This is the only Sunday in the whole of the three year cycle when we hear from Nehemiah and we never hear from the closely linked book of Ezra. I was in seminary before I knew anything about these guys. After the exile in Babylon, a small…
Transformation
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John the Deacon
Photo by Cristian Palmer on unsplash.com Isaiah 43:1-7 Acts 8:14-17 Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 I remember being a young lad in elementary school and having to have my parents help me occasionally with the difficult parts of my homework assignments. The memory that stands out for me is the fact that I was not gifted with a natural propensity toward an aptitude in mathematics in those days and my dear mother took on the challenge of helping me with that portion of…
It’s Us!
Yesterday my good friend, Lynn, was telling me how excited she is about a class she’s taking this year with Eckhart Tolle, a metaphysical teacher. Some of you have probably read some of his books. She is excited to be giving this time and energy to her spiritual journey. It made me think of the three magi who came from somewhere in the East following their spiritual dream in the form of a star. Lynn has been reading Tolle’s books,…