[RCL] Exodus 3:1-15; Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c; Romans 12:9-21; Matthew 16:21-28 If one is to believe that great treasury of modern wisdom, “The Lion King,” life is a circle that eventually unwinds. Death is nothing more than the end of the story of life. Death is not something to mourn, but something to accept, even…

[RCL]: Exodus 1:8-2:10; Psalm 124; Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20 Moses’ first response to the burning bush was curiosity: “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” By the end of his life, though, did Moses instead wonder at how appropriate this manifestation of God…

Prudence Crandall may sound like the name of a character in a Jane Austen novel, but she was a real-life force of nature in 19th century New England. Crandall started a boarding school for girls in Canterbury, Connecticut, impassioned to raise educated women. One day, she received an application from a young African American girl…

[NOTE TO READER: Ehyeh asher Ehyeh is pronounced “EH-hyah ah-SHARE EH-hyah”] “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” These words from today’s reading from Matthew are Peter’s impulsive response to the devastating news that Jesus – his friend, healer and teacher, beloved and more than beloved, his divine Lord and savior – would suffer….

It is a hard job being religious. Perhaps we feel this the more when we compare our lives with those of the saints. Of course we have our excuses. The world was less complicated in their days. People had time to pray seven times a day, like the psalmist. We move from that excuse to…

Last Sunday’s gospel was really fun – Peter’s answering for the disciples that Jesus is much more than people were saying he was – that he was the Messiah. Fun because Jesus affirmed them and even told Peter he was a rock on which he would build the church. Fun for us, because we can…

Sooner or later, all of us have to bear something that is, to all intents and purposes, unbearable. A young widow is left with three children to raise alone because her husband was killed in Iraq. A baby dies at birth. A sister dies in a car crash involving a drunk driver. Sometimes it is…

Paul’s twelfth chapter in the letter to the church in Rome and the sixteenth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, both seek to open to us the mysteries of a life lived with God. Herein lies the heart of the good news. Characteristically, it is good news that sounds like bad news before we find a way…

We live in a time when there is a most peculiar notion generally present in our culture. It is the self-help notion. There are books by the crate-full, videotapes, audiotapes, and hundreds of devices and processes designed to assist us or guide us as we help ourselves. We can gain weight, lose weight, become a…