One of the invitations for us in these bread of life passages is to ask ourselves whether we are looking for the same old whales in our spiritual lives, as on a whale watching tour. Are we trying to confirm what we already know? Or, are we open to God showing us a new thing and a deeper wisdom?
Read MoreIn watching Jesus, and imitating those who imitate him, we join in a great chain of discipleship—each of us learning to mix the recipe anew in our own bodies and lives. Like a good baker, who eventually leaves the recipe behind, knowing how to play with the ratios of ingredients, our life as disciples will move increasingly toward new expressions of the many facets of God.
Read MoreFair warning, the lectionary gives us a whole month with this particular “I Am statement,” so I’m not going to exhaust the interpretive reserves on week one. What’s unique about this week’s passage is that as he introduces the bread of life metaphor, Jesus criticizes the people not for their hunger, but for their method of pursuit, for the way that they chased him. Attaining the bread of life, we learn right away, is not like little league soccer.
Read MoreJesus throws a party of his own, the feeding of the 5,000, and it could not be more different than Herod’s birthday party. There was lust and murder at one party, but compassion, hospitality, abundance, and a life-giving miracle at the other. Everyone was invited. Mark seems to be asking, which party do you want to go to? Whose kingdom do you want to belong to?
Read MoreOur relationships with our bodies are complicated and ever-changing, and all of us have experienced undue shame about them at one point or another. But as members of the Body of Christ, one of our responsibilities is to treat bodies the way Jesus does - our own bodies and others’.
Read MoreIf you need to be reminded of good and holy things, take Jesus’ advice and look at the ordinary stuff in your life from a slightly different angle. The metaphors are endless, each promising that the kingdom of God is close at hand. And remember that even the smallest ones can bring great joy.
Read MoreIn order to be cleansed from our sins, we know that we must gaze upon our savior, lifted high upon a cross. This act of bearing witness, gazing upon, sitting with, pondering, is part of our calling as people of faith. While Jesus might not expect us to make perfect sense of the Trinity on our own, we are certainly called to dwell with this mystery in heart and mind and spirit.
Read MorePentecost is not only about the arrival of the Holy Spirit. It is also, fundamentally, the next chapter in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. And it is, in the big picture, a full expression of God’s own vision.
Read MoreThe good news has traveled via human voice, person to person, in ancient times until now and far into the future, to the ends of the earth just as Jesus predicted. Given human imperfection, I would have called this a risky plan on God’s part, but it has worked miraculously well.
Read MoreOur relationships here are something special. They are unique among the other relationships in our lives. Among the various kinds of friends - fun friends, useful friends, fair-weather friends, shoulder-to-cry-on friends, and many others, we are called to be friends in Christ.
Read MoreThis is one of the handy models Jesus offers in John’s Gospel for life in the resurrection. We call them the “I am” statements, and the Church usually reads through them during Eastertide. According to this “I am” narrative, Jesus loves his sheep, each and every one of us, unconditionally, no matter the cost to him, which was great, and no matter how we respond, which is often poorly.
Read MoreMark offers us two different possibilities on Easter. There is the plain sense of the account, in which a stone got moved, a guy gave a message, and the women left in fear, saying nothing to anyone. But there is also a miraculous way to see it. The angel is passing out Easter yard signs as we speak. No matter where you stand, there is a sign for you with a clear message: “He is risen.”
Read MorePalm Sunday is an opportunity to consider what kind of Holy Week we’re going to have. Will we imitate the disciples, ignoring Jesus’ warnings about what is to come, determined to set our minds on what is joyful, easy, comfortable? Will we dress up the journey to the cross with fancy clothes so as not to look too closely at it’s brutal nature? Or will we instead heed Mark’s warning and contemplate the stark reality of the crucifixion?
Read MoreI imagine that many of us are like those Greeks in Jerusalem. We are searching for truth, longing for a deeper spiritual life, and we have the means and ability to pursue it, even taking an exotic pilgrimage here and there. None of those are bad things, but we have to watch that they do not shut us off from the total transformation that Jesus is calling us toward, a transformation that requires us to stand before the cross, giving over whatever we are clinging to of our lives so that they will die with him.
Read MoreThere’s a lot to unpack in these few short weeks of wilderness wandering. We’ve got the manna from heaven, the moaning about wishing they were back in Egypt, and the never-ending line of legal cases brought before Moses. Thankfully, there is some true genius in the organizational structure of the Ten Commandments, which can help us understand what’s really going on here.
Read MoreIt’s not every day that you have a senior warden who is the music director of the Broadway hit “Godspell.” So of course we went to see it last week at the Argenta Community Theater. I’m grateful for the times when we are offered the whole story of Jesus at once. But I am just as grateful for the smaller pieces of the story that can feel more manageable week after week. What’s remarkable about them is that they seem to start out small, but if you look carefully, they contain much more of our salvation story than you might see at first glance.
Read MoreOn top of the Great Litany, we also have Mark’s brief and jarring rendering of the baptism of Jesus and his time in the wilderness. Unlike the lengthier, more nuanced tellings in the other Gospels, for Mark, Jesus’ baptism is a radical act, dramatic and earth-shattering. And his temptation in the wilderness is not a battle of wits and willpower with the devil, it’s an apocalyptic struggle that Jesus manages to survive. The passage describes a holy disruption in the world. If we were to lean into Mark’s vision, we might call the season of Lent a holy disruption in our life of faith.
Read MoreIt seems especially fitting that we are welcoming two babies into the Church this week through Baptism. I think they are lucky that their very first Lent will begin with a Valentine’s Day/Ash Wednesday mash up. Over the years, may that mash up teach them well - and remind us all - that the way of the cross is the way of love.
Read More“Wait for the Lord,” Isaiah councils. It is waiting that makes walking in the dark possible; our eyes need time to adjust to the illumination of stars. Jesus knew this need for waiting. In the midst of his rising fame and a chance to do the work of healing in the world, he took time to wait in a dark and wild place, away from the fires of the town and the safety of the city. It was into the dark that he went to pray, that most fundamental waiting before God. In prayer he oriented himself, remembering and accepting his dependence on his Father. In the dark he could look into the night and feel the comfort of the Love that made it all; the Love of which his own life was an expression.
Read MoreFrom the moment he enters the scene, Jesus is able to accomplish things that the scribes cannot. Jesus can silence and then completely overtake the evil spirit among them. The community’s worldview about power is immediately brought into question, and so is ours. Mark is telling us, in his opening chapter, that our assumptions about who holds authority in the world are sorely misguided.
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