Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. It is good to be back with you all here today. I am delighted to share that Vestry member Heather Albertson and I completed all the necessary work and reading, we passed the exam, and Friday evening…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. Happy Pentecost! The word Pentecost comes from the Greek word for fiftieth – as this is the fiftieth and last day of the Easter season. Next week, with Trinity Sunday, we begin the nearly six…
Alleluia! Christ is risen! I need to start today by naming something essential to our walk as Christians. You probably noticed that when I read the Gospel moments ago, I changed the words “the Jews” to “the authorities” – so the sentence read: When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of…
Alleluia! Christ is risen! Happy Easter! Today is the culmination of 40 day journey through the season of Lent, and a trek through Holy Week – from Palm Sunday last Sunday, to Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday last night. And now here we are – finally celebrating the resurrection. The resurrection is the climax of the story we’ve…
Tonight we continue our journey through the three great days of the church year – Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday – that lead us to Easter morning. Every year we tell the same stories, which are, in essence, one love story, told in three parts. Tonight we pick up with – A Love Story, Part 2. +++ Last night,…
Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. Tonight we begin the three great days of the church year – Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday – that lead us to Easter morning. Every year we tell the same stories, which are, in essence, one love story, told in three parts. Tonight…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. Parables don’t tell us what to do, or how to behave – they tell us something of the nature of God. It is important to remember this as we read the parable of the father…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. We are in Lent, and once again Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. This is the course we saw set when he traveled down the mountain after the Transfiguration, and though much happens along…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. Today we read what is probably Jesus’ most famous sermon. Commonly called the beatitudes, it’s found in slightly different forms in both Matthew and here in Luke. As with so much of scripture, the differences in…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. Author Madeleine L’Engle once wrote, “I take the Bible too seriously to take it all literally.”[1] As I read scripture, I often pair that quote in my head with this thought, which I heard expressed at…