The Prophet Ezekiel Was Active…, Proper 9 (B) – 2006

July 09, 2006

The prophet Ezekiel was active, scholars think, from about 593 BCE to 571 BCE. This period encompasses the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the exile to Babylon in 587 BCE. It was a time of great turmoil for Israel. The reading for today comes from the second chapter of the book of Ezekiel, […]

We All Remember the Story…, Epiphany 3 (B) – 2006

January 22, 2006

We all remember the story about Jonah being swallowed by a whale, but what we might have forgotten is why. This is the story: God asks Jonah to go to Nineveh, a corrupt city, and tell them that if they repent, God will not destroy them. This annoys Jonah, who thinks that the Ninevites deserve […]

Sometimes the Folks Who Put… Advent 3 (B) – 2005

December 11, 2005

Sometimes the folks who put the Lectionary—the lists of Sunday readings—together do a really wonderful job. Sometimes it’s questionable, as in August, but today it’s a perfect pairing. John the Baptist, the Gospel tells us, was traveling around baptizing people. This was a departure from traditional Jewish practice, and that—and the fact that he was […]

The Unexpected, Proper 23 (A) – 2005

October 09, 2005

The readings this week from Exodus and the Gospel of Matthew are about the unexpected. In the story from Exodus, Moses has been up on the mountain for a long time. The people are getting worried, even scared. They don’€™t really know where Moses has gone, or why they don’t understand. Like so many times […]

I Give You a New Commandment…, Easter 5 (C) – 2004

May 09, 2004

[Y]ou shall love your neighbor as yourself… Leviticus 19:18 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. John 13:34 Here we have, from two separate stories and two separate times, the instruction to love each other. The first is from […]

There Was an Ad, Lent 2 (C) – 2004

March 07, 2004

There was an ad on TV the other night, another get-rich-quick scheme—something about how to make millions through real estate deals without having to work very hard. Doing things the easy way is almost always more attractive to us than we’d like to admit, more attractive than working hard at something, more appealing than delayed […]

Ash Wednesday Marks the Beginning…, Ash Wednesday – 2003

March 05, 2003

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. On “Fat Tuesday,” or Shrove Tuesday, we (at least symbolically!) use up all the rich foods in our houses to ready ourselves for a time of fasting and preparation. On Ash Wednesday, we are invited “in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, […]

We Are Winding Down…, Proper 28 (B) – 2003

November 16, 2003

We are winding down the church year. Next Sunday, the feast of Christ the King, is the last Sunday in our liturgical year. After that, we begin again with Advent. As is usual for this time of year, the readings for this Sunday are about the end-times. All three of the readings for today use […]

How We Want…, Proper 24 (B) – 2003

October 19, 2003

Oh, how we want to be important! How badly, how desperately, we want to be favored, to be loved, to be special. How much we want Mom or Dad to love us best (some of you will remember the old Smothers Brothers routines where Tommy says, “Mom always loved you best!”). Clearly, the disciples were […]