Most of us wouldn’t think of the 23rd Psalm as an apocalyptic passage. It is our most familiar psalm, one of the most known and cherished parts of scripture, and for good reason. Its words are deeply comforting, its images deep and life giving. But at the Psalm’s heart is a message meant to bring perspective, God’s revelation, to a people in crisis. This ancient song is meant to bring a message so profound and powerful that when fully encountered it will change the very way we live.
Read MoreWe have been training for this moment spiritually for a long time, and we are ready for it. It might not feel like we are, with so much fear going around, but it’s true. All the times we’ve been in church before, all the times we’ve read the scriptures, all the times we’ve said our prayers, we have been preparing for this moment.
Read MoreTruly, we are all Nicodemus, peering out into the night, hoping against hope for a message of comfort and reassurance from our God. Faithful as ever, God sends us the same message that Nicodemus and Moses and all of our ancestors have heard: the source of our fear will be the source of our grace, grace in the night.
Read MoreAs we begin our Lenten journey, consider the power of the word “no” for Christian discipleship. Because of your faith, what do you need to say no to?
Read MoreFog, these days, comes with a warning on our phones; a weather advisory to slow down. A foggy mind, cloudy thinking, caught in a haze--the metaphors of our culture reflect a negative stance toward life in the clouds. We love to be able to see what’s ahead and around us. But our scriptures are full of places where it is in the fog that faith is found, it is in the fog that we encounter the divine.
Read MoreIt turns out that some dusty old verses in scripture can be planted in us after all, and grow into the medicine we need.
Read MoreI believe that there are critical moments in the life of a community in which a look back at the people and patterns and systems of the past is a valuable spiritual practice. In fact, I think Jesus himself encouraged theological reflection on history.
Read MoreIf, by chance, you think that you are insufficient for such spiritual heights, just remember that Luke highlighted a random guy off the street and an old widow in the temple as our inspiration. Each of us can be an Anna or a Simeon, ready to see the savior and learning to trust that the consolation of the world will come.
Read MoreIn our Gospel, the word Jesus uses for repent means something very different from simply confessing sins and feeling sorry for them. Repent in the Greek of the New Testament is the word metanoia, which translates more literally to “change your mind,” “renew your mind,” “take on a different way of thinking.” This is what Jesus means when he calls on us to repent.
Read More“Have you ever been Baptized?” the preacher asked. “What’s that?” he murmured. “If I Baptize you,” the preacher said, “you’ll be able to go to the Kingdom of Christ. You’ll be washed in the river of suffering, son, and you’ll go by the deep river of life. Do you want that?” “Yes,” the child said, and thought, I won’t go back to the apartment then, I’ll go under the river. “You won’t be the same again,” the preacher said. “You’ll count.”
Read MoreIt’s a little harder to be sentimental this far into January. But I promise that I’m not trying to explain away the wonder of the nativity story. Maybe just redirect it a bit, as Matthew would have us do. Because the story of the three kings is full of wonder. It’s just not really about three kings at all. It’s about two kings, Jesus and Herod. And about which one deserves our true wonder and praise.
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Our Gospel reading this morning, the poetic prologue to John’s gospel, tells us that creation itself is woven from the Word of God, this Word that is Christ and was with God from the beginning—" All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.” Christ, this light, was meant to be seen in warblers, the truth of God’s love was to be heard in the laughter of children or witnessed in the aroma of a forest after a rain. Creation, from the beginning, spoke of God because it was made through the Word of God and breathed from His life and echoed His light. Christ was the language in which the book of creation was written.
Read MoreIf, by chance, you have taken any wrong turns in life, or failed to let other drivers into your lane, or ended up in construction zones far away from your intended destination, hear the angels’ message to fear not. Remember that God is in the business of sending signs to reassure us of God’s favor.
Read MoreThose in power like Ahaz, those in power like so many of us, can pretend that God is big and distant because we like to take care of things ourselves. We want a God too big for our lives so that we can be our own gods in all the details and decisions of our existence. But those like Joseph and Mary, the powerless peasants waiting in expectation for God to redeem Israel, see by the light of the Spirit’s witness that God is here among us. They have felt the presence of God and recognized the truth that God has never been far. As the theologian Stanley Hauerwas writes: “God does not need to intervene in creation, because God has never been absent from creation.”
Read MoreThis time of year, we always seem to find ourselves in a confused world of ominous headlines and twinkling Christmas lights. The world looks like a six. But we are once again invited to throw our faith into a world of nines, into a world where God became flesh to heal it all.
Read MoreEvery year I strive to be more prepared for the season of preparation. But life gets hectic, and I get distracted, and so every year, on the second Sunday of Advent, there’s John the Baptist, the voice crying out in the wilderness saying, “Hannah! You’re breaking the ornaments!”
Read MoreThe church, in its wisdom, decided to begin its great story with a passage from somewhere in the middle, to find us where we need to be found, still in the middle of our own stories. Jesus wants us to embrace him now, before we know what happens next. Because in this anxious and fearful world, being awake to Christ and watchful for the kingdom is simply a better way to live. Happy New Year.
Read MoreWhat Luke wants us to know about kingship hinges on that very last sentence. “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” No other king in the history of the world has been able to promise that, and Christ keeps that promise still. What Christ offers, forgiveness of sin, a new life of discipleship, the joy of God’s grace, that is true kingship. Paul’s kingly tribute is well-deserved. But we can’t have any of it without indignity of the Cross.
Read MoreThe world is clearly a tumultuous place, it always has been. Sometimes even grand temples fall. Whenever disaster strikes, the false gods of gloom and doom show up and want us to worship them. We get to choose.
Read MoreGod is already doing the work of resurrection, God is the God not of the dead but of the living, and no child of God will be left out of that loving life. We can move boldly in the world, with the confidence of the new creation, to join in God’s work of renewal. With Jesus, already risen, God’s new creation has begun, not in some distant heaven but in our midst where heaven is coming to earth. Why settle for the compromises of a corrupt world when we can claim our call as children of God and live in the confident hope of God’s action?
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