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Good Friday Vulnerability and Truth
Good Friday 2020 April 10, 2020 And so, it is Good Friday. And it’s an awful Friday. It’s day of paradox, of tension, of contradiction. It’s a day of darkness and light. It is a day filled with vulnerability and truth. And this Good Friday is one in which the world, collectively, is experiencing vulnerability. We are uncertain, we feel as if the ground is shifting underneath us, we are afraid, we are perhaps disheartened, wondering what’s next, when…
No Bones are too Dry
5 Lent – March 29, 2020 John 11:1-45 This past Monday brought with it additional restrictions on how we live our lives – a shelter in place order. So, I think it’s fair to say that, at this point, most all of us have had our lives dramatically changed. And not by choice. So, please, be gentle with yourselves. Let’s admit that this is stressful for most all of us. We’re worried about our health, our jobs, our economy.…
Vision
4 Lent – March 22, 2020 John 9:1-41 So, wow! Lots of changes in our world right now and it may be, for many of us, a scary time. Especially if you are sick or are not able to earn an income right now. My own household is affected, because as many of you know, my husband owns Beaver Creek Tavern and had to temporarily close. This effects the employees’ income, as well as the tavern’s. But as is…
God comes in the Darkness
1 Advent – December 3, 2017 Mark 13:24-37 It’s Advent! A new church season. The season before Christmas. “And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.” Keep awake is what we hear in our gospel passage this morning, and this passage is not an easy start to the season. These words are not really welcoming us into the season with a graceful sense of hospitality. This lection doesn’t so much beckon us across the threshold as…
God Surprises Us
Last Sunday after Pentecost, Christ the King – November 26, 2017 Matthew 25:31-46 This is Christ the King Sunday on our church calendar. The last Sunday in Year A. And we’re given a challenging gospel — it is one that stretches us. Jesus is separating people as sheep from the goats. He speaks of those who recognize him and minister to him, and those who don’t. When was it that we saw you? Notice that both groups of people ask…
Be the Light
23 Pentecost, Proper 27 – November 12, 2017 Matthew 25:1-13 The phrase….hurry up and wait. Tom Petty’s song…The Waiting is the Hardest Part are things that come to the mind with the parable of the bridesmaids. In her commentary on Working Preacher, Dr. Susan Hylen offers a really helpful insight: “the point of the parable is not constant readiness. “Keep awake” does not imply that the disciples should never sleep, standing vigil through the ages for Christ’s imminent return. In…
Whispers
All Saints’ Sunday – November 5, 2017 Matthew 5:1-12 Today we are celebrating All Saints’ Sunday….the Feast of All Saints’ actually occurs on November 1 and is part of three holy days which begin with Halloween. Hallow means holy and Halloween is a contraction of All Hallow’s Eve. On Halloween, we are said to face our fears and laugh at them, knowing that nothing, not even death can separate us from the love of God. November 1, is All Saints…
All of us
17 Pentecost, Proper 21 – October 1, 2017 Matthew 21: 23-32 Authority is the question of the day – the question raised in our gospel story. We live in a time when authority is rightly questioned. And this is not new, according to this passage from Matthew. To some extent those in power had every right to question Jesus’ authority. After all, what had Jesus done, what had he said, that would justify his rather obtuse claims? Before we vilify…
What motivates you?
16 Pentecost, Proper 20 – September 24, 2017 Matthew 20:1-16 Be honest. When you heard our gospel reading just now, did your heart leap for joy? Were you excited when you heard that the workers who’d toiled and slaved all day long in the hot sun were going to get the same day’s wages as those who’d worked only one hour? Probably not, huh? This is not a favorite parable. It goes against one of our most cherished values, that…
“In the Light of Eternity”
13 Pentecost, Proper 17 – September 3, 2017 Matthew 16:21-28 Last Sunday we heard Jesus saying to Peter, you’re “the rock on which I will build my church” and this Sunday he’s calling him “a stumbling block.” That’s not just great word play – from cornerstone to stumbling block – but such a reversal of relational fortune that it had to be incredibly painful for Peter. Can you imagine? And perhaps that’s the difficulty. Peter couldn’t imagine. He couldn’t imagine…
Racism
11 Pentecost, Proper 15 – August 20, 2017 Matthew 15:10-28 Evil. We don’t often speak about evil, but this has been a sad and painful week. The horrifying events in Charlottesville have played out in the news, and on social media, and the only reason I can understand how we are so caught up in division and the seeming need to divide ourselves is to call out and name the evil for what it is. Racism, bigotry, the ideology that…
Perception
5 Pentecost, Proper 9 – July 9, 2017 Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 Today I”d like to talk a little bit about perception. Perception is the state of being or process of becoming aware of something through the senses. It is a way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting something; a mental impression or picture. It is intuitive understanding and insight. In our gospel reading for today, Jesus talks about how we have perceived John the Baptist and Jesus, himself. The crowds appear…