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Take off your shoes! Take—off—your—shoes. No, not literally—figuratively. But think about what that would look like in this place—in this holy space we worship in. All those feet—our feet. Many of us would feel odd—all dressed up, but without shoes. Others might feel freed. Little children, for example, love to take off their shoes and…
Let’s turn our attention to one of the minor characters in the Passion story. He remains speechless, and appears in only one verse. Yet this character is one of the closest to Jesus as Jesus walks the road to the place of crucifixion. Here is the single verse that mentions this character: On their way…
“Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.” — 1 Samuel 16:12 Remember that survey course of English literature you took back in high school or college? You probably used a textbook that was, in essence, a collection or anthology of literary classics representing the wisdom of many centuries and cultures. It was a…
In a sermon from 1956, the 10th anniversary of the Church of the Saviour in Washington, D.C., Gordon Cosby, a co-founder of that church, speaks of the importance of a personal encounter with Jesus such as the Samaritan woman at the well experiences: “…I have discovered…that commitment and discipline are the absolute essentials for any…
There is a scene in the movie Return of the King, based on the third volume of J.R.R. Tolkien’s saga The Lord of the Rings, where Aragorn gives dead soldiers who deserted their king a chance to regain their honor and be restored to peace if they will help to defend the City of Kings…
The reading for today from Matthew’s Gospel is an odd bit of Scripture, isn’t it? This particular passage is full of images. They’re very vivid images, so vivid that we almost can’t help but imagine the scene of Jesus’ conversation with the tempter. If we have very lively imaginations, we might feel the heat of…
During the recent commemoration of the liberation of the concentration camp at Auschwitz, in Poland, in a moment of almost eerie silence, a rabbi sounded the ram’s horn, the ancient “trumpet” of Israel. Sixty years after the Nazis were driven from that dreadful place, survivors mingled with world leaders to pay homage to the dead,…
And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for…
This passage from the Gospel of Matthew is known commonly as The Beatitudes. They are fondly heard by people of good will and treasured as words of comfort to the afflicted and distressed. But like many popular passages in Scripture, they need to be placed in the context of their original hearers and then brought…
In the Gospel for today, Jesus is identified by Matthew as the prophetic Light that shines in the darkness. He is associated with Isaiah’s prophecy that people who have lived in a land of deep darkness now have a new light shining upon them. Unfortunately one need not look very far to see the darkness…
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