[RCL] Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; Psalm 126 or Canticle 15 (or 3); 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8,19-28 If you have ever stood at the rim of a canyon, you know what it is to comprehend the immense majesty of emptiness. These clefts in the earth, carved by the incessant flow of water over millennia, are rocky…

Inflection is everything. What do Americans call the game of table tennis? Do we say, “ping pong”? No. We call it “ping pong.” In English, men’s names such as David, Matthew, Isaac, Daniel, are emphasized on the first syllable. We tend to inflect with emphasis. In other languages inflection is handled differently. In Turkish, for example, even…

Some signs are sacred; some are secular. Some familiar; some unrecognized. Each Advent sign points to the one who first came to us in the obscurity of Bethlehem and to the same one who is now to come “in great glory to judge the living and the dead.” Each Advent sign points to Jesus. Four…

It’s because the Baptist’s voice is so cold, urgent and disturbing that the Judaean priests and Levites come out to demand in effect: «Who do you think you are?» That’s what this morning’s Gospel dialogue is all about. And the Baptist’s answer is even more disconcerting. He is shaking up things as they are; he…