It is a wonder, why, in their infinite wisdom, the compilers of the Revised Common Lectionary chose to begin this week’s epistle where they did. The syntax and cadence are difficult enough, without even beginning to look at the content and context thereof. The reading seems to drop right into the middle of an ongoing…

Of all the issues facing the church 120 years ago, one that was considered so pressing that it was addressed by bishops throughout the Anglican Communion at the Lambeth Conference of 1888 was this: the observance of the Sabbath. The bishops at that conference issued a report including these statements: “The principle of the religious…

The 13th chapter of Luke’s Gospel includes two texts offered for today’s Gospel: the account of The Bent Over Woman and at the close of the chapter, the dialog where Jesus engages the question of the number to be saved. “Strive to enter by the narrow door.” Binding these are images of the Kingdom of…

A favorite prayer for “birthday blessings,” in churches where people’s birthdays are publicly celebrated, begins: “O God, our times are in your hand…” (Prayer #50, BCP p.380) Isaiah would recognize the phrase, and being a daring and confrontational prophet, he would no doubt ask if we lived, not just on our birthdays, but every day…

Can you imagine what it’s like to experience an earthquake? I don’t mean a tremor that makes the china cabinet rattle — I mean an EARTHQUAKE that cracks streets, splits open houses, throws people to the floor, an earthquake where walls move, furniture slides, and you’re desperate to hang onto something solid. Can you imagine…

The kingdom of heaven, the one of which Jesus speaks, is not at all like the kingdom in which we live. The truths which guide often run counter to all we assume to be true about many aspects of our life: the order of things, the ways of reward and punishment, the best ways to…