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Snakes and wolves
4 Lent – March 10, 2024John 3:14-21 We have an interesting pairing of stories today – one from the Old Testament Book of Numbers, and one from John’s Gospel. In the Old Testament story, the Israelites, having lost patience yet again with the hardships of life in the desert, speak out against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?” they ask. “For there is no food and no water,…
Your temple
3 Lent – March 3, 2024John 2:13-22 All four gospels include an account of Jesus’ disruption at the temple. Matthew, Mark and Luke all place this story at the end of Jesus’s ministry, sandwiching it between his triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the parable of the tenants. John, however, puts the story at the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, after the changing of water into wine at the wedding in Cana, which makes it one of his first public acts. Both of these…
sharing wounds
2 Lent – February 25, 2024Mark 8:31-38 Just before this part of the gospel of Mark that we hear today, Peter stumbles onto the truth about his teacher, about Jesus – “You are the Messiah”, Peter realizes. And now, whatever great aspirations the disciples attribute to the Messiah, Jesus shuts down. He tells them he must undergo great suffering and be rejected and be killed. But he will rise again. Peter wants none of it and takes Jesus aside…
Beloved
1 Lent Year B – February 18, 2024Mark 1:9-15 This Sunday’s gospel consists of three episodes: Jesus’ baptism, his temptation and his inaugural preaching. Mark is brief and to the point. We are now in the church season of Lent, which began this past Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, when I shared about dust. “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return”. It’s a statement about God’s faithfulness to us, about God’s love for us, God’s promise…
Life in the valley
Last Sunday after the Epiphany: The Transfiguration – Feb 11, 2024Mark 9:2-9 Jesus is transfigured. Moses and Elijah appear and then strangely disappear. Peter is perplexed. James and John are silent. God speaks. The disciples are overcome with awe. Jesus tells them to say nothing about what has happened! Mystery and divine presence are pervasive in our stories for today. So, what is the message for us? On Transfiguration Sunday, we come to the end of another church season,…
Healing and relationship
5 Epiphany – February 4, 2024Mark 1:29-39 Our gospel selection for today has three parts: a healing story, a description of the multitude brought to Jesus and the many who are healed and exorcised, an account of Jesus going to the wilderness to pray and, when found, expresses his resolve to go to proclaim the message in the towns throughout Galilee. The scenes alternate between “private” and “public,” an encounter among a few people in a “house,” then…
Our demons
4 Epiphany Year B – January 28, 2024Mark 1:21-28 So, I think today’s gospel story may be difficult for many of us to relate to. It sounds like an exorcism story and many of us have no direct experience of that. But there is so much we can learn from it. Mark tells this story about unclean spirits, and he tells it up front; in other words, at the very beginning of the Gospel of Mark. Keep in…
Invited and called
3 Epiphany Year B – January 21, 2024Mark 1:14-20 Let me repeat: “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news.” The time is fulfilled. The Greek for time here is kairos….meaning this is significant time; the moment of truth; a decisive moment; God’s time. Jesus says the time is fulfilled…
“Vision in the Kitchen”
2 Epiphany – January 14, 2024John 1:43-51 Epiphany is a season of light and revelation, a season of searching, discovering, finding, and knowing. What can we learn from the penetrating and grace-filled vision of God in these days? If Jesus were here right now, looking at what we’re looking at, what would he see? In our reading from John’s Gospel, we encounter a skeptic named Nathanael who thinks he knows exactly who God is and how God operates. Nathaniel…
I See you
Epiphany Year B– January 7, 2024Matthew 2:1-12 Happy New Year! Happy Epiphany! It is the end of our Christmas season and the beginning of church season of Epiphany. A season of recognizing Christ’s surprising appearances or manifestations in our lives. Today we hear the wonderful story of the magi, the wise men, following a star to see the Christ child. It is a story of hope. Hope in the midst of great struggle. Each year, Jan Richardson creates and…
Charlie Brown Christmas
Christmas Eve 2023 There is a reason we celebrate Christmas at the end of December, when the weather is cold, the days short, the nights long and dark. There is a reason we celebrate Christmas at the darkest, coldest time of the year. Our ancestors in the faith knew why. They knew something about night, and about darkness. They who lived in a world lit only by fire, knew that their world, at least at this time of…
who are you?
3 Advent – December 17, 2023John 1:6-8, 19-28 Our gospel for today tells us more about who John was NOT rather than about who he was: he wasn’t the light; he wasn’t the Messiah; he wasn’t Elijah; he wasn’t the prophet.” Who, then, was he? Well, he was a witness and he was a voice – a voice telling people to prepare for someone else, someone whose sandal thong John was unworthy to untie. He was a voice of one…