he Passion, as we heard in that first gospel reading, begins with Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem not on a throne surrounded by dignitaries, but on a beast of burden surrounded by peasants looking for hope. This is the tipoff that we are dealing with a very different king. I would like to look at a passage from the beginning of the Passion and a passage from the end of the Passion. Both passages tell us how this very different king, ...
Continue Reading →
Imagine you are one of the disciples sitting at the table during the Last Supper. As Jesus comes and takes his place at the table, things look like they do at every other Passover meal they have shared. There is nothing that would suggest that this would be the last meal they would share together as a group. Life can be, and often is, like that. Today doesn’t look a whole lot different than yesterday and tomorrow will probably not ...
Continue Reading →
All three Scripture readings deal with images of new life. They are all about people getting stuck and then getting unstuck, because God opened up a new path before them. Isaiah (700 B.C.) is speaking to the Hebrews who are stuck in captivity in Babylon and who long to come back home to Israel. Isaiah tells the people, “Remember, 600 years ago, God made a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, through the Red Sea, so that ...
Continue Reading →
Today, in the Gospel according to John, we hear of the story of the woman caught in adultery. It reminds us that sin, turning away from God and acting against our own dignity and worth, is not an ending. Jesus’ response to those who accuse the woman is more than a caution to us about making judgement of others. It is a profound lesson in divine mercy and forgiveness. As sinners, we are all unworthy to judge the sins of ...
Continue Reading →
A group of us, back in 1989, when we started at seminary, were told that should we be ordained, someday, we will discover that 95% of all the problems that come our way will either have to do with peoples’ false image of God or false image of self. Based on my informal information gathering after 25 years of ministry, I think the number is actually closer to 99%. So, let’s look at this classic scripture story of forgiveness to ...
Continue Reading →
Today’s gospel is one of the best-known stories in the New Testament, and at the same time it is one that most of us don’t really “know.” That is to say, we don’t really take one of its key messages to heart – love and belonging have nothing to do with deserving.
When the younger son asked for his inheritance while his father was still living, he did something that wasn’t considered good, but was allowed. A son who truly honoured ...
Continue Reading →
If you don’t remember, I’ll recall it for you. Last Sunday’s first reading was about God promising Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation. Believe it or not there would be more inhabitants, in this great nation, than there are stars in the heavens. It seems, today’s first reading tells us that the party is over. Abraham is long dead, and his descendants are slaves in Egypt. So much for a great nation…or is it?
What they ...
Continue Reading →
My understanding on today’s second reading is that our ancestors lived on the land and the sea with the same needs like everybody else. The second reading also noted that they were all baptized into Moses, as we are all baptized. It also mentions that there were still some evil doers who, at the same time, depended on the same spiritual rock that followed them. God was not pleased with their way of accepting or desiring evil. They were destroyed ...
Continue Reading →
Intending to speak only for myself, but I might also be speaking for others, I can say that I rarely give spiritual experiences the due they are owed. I rarely pay attention to them in the ways I should. It’s much easier for me to go up into my head and find the correct theology or repeat the words of a saint or a theologian rather than exploring where God might be leading me through the experiences of my own ...
Continue Reading →
“Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord.” Ps 27:14
It was difficult to focus on my work this week, as my attention was constantly being drawn to the horrific images of war that were once again inundating every news outlet. I was grateful that my mother had not lived to see this latest assault in Europe. Even in her final years with Alzheimer’s, she retained disturbing memories of Hitler’s tanks and soldiers ...
Continue Reading →