What we see today in the Book of Acts is nothing less than the risen Jesus in the form of a fisherman turned disciple, turned deserter, turned apostle. If you need some assurance that this is what the author is trying to get across, look at the people’s reaction to the healing. Luke tells us that after seeing it, they believed, but believed not in Peter, but in the Lord. They were, as we would say in our baptismal covenant, finding in all persons the Christ whom we seek.
Read MoreOn the road to Damascus, in that long war torn land of Syria, Saul had an encounter with disruption of a different kind—an encounter that changed his identity and name. Instead of bringing change into the world through violence, he was changed by the one who had taken the violence of the world onto himself. Paul met Jesus and through the disruption of his life he found what he was looking for—a life of reconciliation with God and neighbor that can only come through a letting go. Paul found healing disruption, not by bringing a resistant world into order through violence, but by joining Jesus on the cross. It was through way of the cross, Paul found, that resurrection and the healing he’d so long sought could finally be realized.
Read MoreIt’s true that Holy Week and Easter can leave clergy, church staff, and other volunteers a little fried. After all the hours spent planning and implementing programs and worship services to observe Christ’s final days, his death, and his resurrection, there’s not much brain space left. The week after Easter can leave us wondering… now what? And this is not just a practical question about what to do with our time and energy. It’s also a theological one. Christ is risen, now what? What do we do after resurrection?
Read MoreIf you happen to be feeling disconnected these days, or a little awkward in community or like you can’t quite remember some important things, you’ve come to the right place. There are a couple of angels in dazzling clothes with a message for you. Remember what Jesus told you - that he would be crucified and on the third day rise again. Remember what else he told you. That no matter how much you have forgotten, or how much you’ve lost or how far you’ve wandered, God is re-membering you, piecing you back together and re-connecting us all to God’s much bigger story.
Read MoreBaptism, for Paul, is a means of practicing death and as such it is the door to freedom. That’s what we heard tonight from the Epistle to the Roman. Our attention this week has been on Jesus, and rightly so, but Paul reminds us that our call is to join with Jesus in his death, to participate with him in the crucifixion. The call to discipleship we answer in our baptism is, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer once put it, an invitation to “come and die.” And through this practice of death we have been made free.
Read MoreAs usual, scripture is not historical relic, but current commentary. Habakkuk says that what will expose the unjust (that is, what will expose sinful humanity) is when the stones from the wall cry out, or literally when the dissembling stones crash down with a loud noise, and what had been hidden on the other side of the wall will be seen. That is what Jesus is telling those in power: his entry into Jerusalem and all that will happen there, including his own suffering, is a precursor to sin being laid bare. Injustice won’t be able to hide forever. The ultimate good news of the story of Jesus and his love for those who stand outside the wall is that stones will shout and walls will come tumbling down
Read MoreSo Christ’s wisdom from today’s Gospel passage is timely. Our life of devotion is important, and so is our service to those in need. But when we find ourselves facing the Cross, whether in the midst of Lent or at the death of a loved one, or any encounter with true sacrifice, the cost becomes irrelevant. We give everything we have to God.
Read MoreIn his stories, Jesus often presents two kinds of people - the prodigal son and the older brother, the tax collector and the Pharisee, the wheat and the chaff, the sheep and the goats, the prepared mom and the unprepared mom at the DMV.. The truth is we are both kinds with some regularity. When we’ve screwed things up and wandered far from God, Jesus wants us to remember God’s mercy. And when we have our act a little more together, we need to extend that same mercy to those who don’t.
Read MoreLike many of you, I’ve been troubled by the news from Ukraine. Children like mine playing among cots in makeshift shelters. A maternity hospital bombed. Journalists shot by Russian soldiers. I listened to an interview this last week with a Ukrainian pastor whose seminary was hit by missiles, his office demolished, and all his books lost. Still, every day he goes out and cares for the vulnerable and feeds the hungry.
How do we understand all of this—only the most recent in a series of human disasters? When questions like these come to me, I often find myself wandering back to the advice of Karl Barth—a theologian and pastor who supported the German churches that refused to pledge their allegiance to the Nazi state.
Read MoreIn a world filled with every kind of predator from a snake to a teenage driver, the waterfowl in my neighborhood have to work so hard just to keep their young safe and healthy. I’ve learned that with birds, as with people, children sure do make that work difficult. In Luke’s Gospel this morning, Jesus laments how often he has desired to gather his children together in Jerusalem as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but they were not willing.
Read MoreOur yes can be powerful. But there are times when our no is needed, when we inevitably lose our way in the temptations, and when the idolatries of pride, power, or possessions get the best of us. So as we begin our Lenten journey, I invite you to consider the power of the word “no” for Christian discipleship. Because of your faith, what do you need to say no to?
Read MoreWe practice our piety constantly in myriad ways, sometimes intentionally and other times not. These signs of our faith can include anything from saying “bless you” after a sneeze to wearing a smudge of ashes across the forehead. Practices of piety help to anchor our spiritual journey and incorporate our faith into the rest of our lives. Piety permeates our existence. In Lent, we are called to slow down, to listen, and to still ourselves before God. And we do this not by hiding our piety, but by narrowing it and focusing on three spiritual acts: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting.
Read MoreThis year, we need the season of Lent, and the world needs us to journey through it faithfully. The world needs our prayers, our generosity, and our humility. When we can stand openly before God, with a willingness to peer beyond the veil, we will find there strength and love and healing for ourselves and for the world.
Read MoreWhether or not you have one hanging in your closet, there is a garment we share as followers of Jesus. In early descriptions of Holy Baptism, we know that new converts were given a simple white robe to wear, which symbolized putting on the robe of Christ. The robe signified a fresh start for the newly baptized, now free of past sin and shame, and dressed in freedom and dignity. Sharing the news of that outfit is an exciting post-shame pandemic call for the church.
Read MoreThere is a certain kind of trust involved in the life of creation sustained by God’s grace. There are those times when things begin to look thin and we can worry about tomorrow. We ask where our next meal will come from or how we’ll pay for clothing even before our plates are bare or our clothes are worn out. And the temptation is to let this anxiety grow until we no longer trust the gifts of God and creation’s flowing plenty. We begin to hoard, to store up goods. It helps us feel secure and safe when we do this, but over time it begins to isolate us. That is why Jesus says woe to the rich, not in condemnation, but in loving warning. His is an invitation into a different way. The way of affluence.
Read MoreAs I look back on my grandmother’s life, much of which was not easy, I know that she understood about the deep water of faith. She knew where her abundance came from, even when the only thing in the cabinet was peanut butter and pie tins. She answered God’s call to serve others even when it seemed impossible, and never found herself without precisely what she needed.
Read MoreJesus somehow managed to walk right through the angry crowd and go on his way. We can follow his lead, and come to see that God’s grace extends to all people, even the ones we think have it all wrong. That perspective doesn’t solve our differences, but it does keep us away from the cliff’s edge.
Read MoreOne of the most remarkable things about the juxtaposition of these two passages is that not only do they both include the public reading of scripture, they proclaim almost identical messages. Nehemiah and Ezra and the Levites declare that “this day is holy to our Lord.” Jesus reads from Isaiah who foretells the coming of the one who will “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Both stories announce to their listeners, both ancient and present-day, that the time is upon us. God is here, at work among us right now. Things are about to change. Good news has come to those who need it this very day.
Read MoreYou may not have read it this way before, but the bible in its whole, is a love story. We could even dare call it a romantic comedy—not of the sort that’s always funny, though there is that, but in the wider sense of comedy, where at the end, no matter what, there is happiness and joy. From Isaiah to Ezekiel, Hosea to Zephaniah—the Hebrew prophets picked up on this theme of love and described the relationship of God with Israel as an engagement for marriage.
Read MoreIn Christianity, there is no finish line down the road we have to cross in order to receive grace or a spot in heaven. You don’t have to live a long life or reach particular goals to get in, because that’s not how grace works. People came up to Jesus all the time with their burning questions, and he met them where they were. He never said things like, come back and talk to me in 30 years and we’ll assess how much you’ve improved. He was more likely to say things like, “Today, salvation has come to this house.” We have faith that salvation has come for Mary, that she has received a full measure of grace.
Read More