Today’s text from the Hebrew Scripture is appointed for use from the Common Lectionary used by many ecumenical partners and offered for optional use in the Episcopal Church. Most readings are the same as those noted in the Prayer Book lectionary. From time to time an alternative text is suggested in order to include texts…

And Jesus said to him, Go your way; your faith has made you well. And immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way. There is a biography in print of a notorious crime figure who had been kidnapped and hidden from his family for months. After notifying his son of the time…

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…

Being a prophet has never been an easy job, but Amos had some particular challenges. As a shepherd he lacked the automatic authority and credibility a man of more education, property, and social standing might have expected from his fellow citizens. He also lived in a time of prosperity and a strong sense of well-being….

“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh,” says Adam in today’s reading from Genesis. He immediately recognizes his deep connection to the new human being standing before him, a connection that God has woven deeply into the fabric of their lives. For us in the West today, it’s very…

Today let’s consider some of the hard sayings of Jesus, and where their real challenge lies. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Ask a hundred people to identify their favorite Bible passage and it’s likely not one of them will mention these verses we have just heard from the…

What does it mean to welcome others in Jesus’ Name? Two powerful images confront the reader and student of today’s Gospel: one is our desire (unchanged through the ages) to be first and to be right; and the second is our reluctance to enter fully into the terror and sadness of the incarnation. The passages…

There seem to be some people who just can’t stop talking. Others hardly say a word. Perhaps the experts can dig into the psyches of such people and clue us in as to why Bert blithers on, interrupts, and rarely listens, and Sheila occasionally grunts but that is all! Then there are those who pride…

Sometimes when we hear the Bible in our own language, it’s helpful to translate it yet again into our time and place. Let’s do that today. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The conversation we heard about in the Gospel that was just read with its references to religious hand washing…