“Listen! A sower went out to sow.” This is the first of a string of parables that comprise the thirteenth chapter of Matthew’s gospel. Matthew begins this thirteenth chapter by telling us that the things he is talking about happened on the same day as those that end the previous chapter, which is the storyteller’s way of saying that the two narratives…
Most of you, I’m sure, are familiar with the musical setting of the end of today’s Gospel lesson that concludes the first part of Handel’s Messiah. Charles Jennens, Handel’s librettist, changed the scripture text from first person to third to fit the context of the oratorio, but whether it’s Jesus saying “My yoke is easy,” or a chorus singing “His yoke is…
As I hope you’ve come to know by now, I take scripture very seriously. All of it. The parts that make sense to me and the parts that don’t. The parts that give me joy and the parts that make me angry. The parts I like and the parts I don’t like. And there are lots of parts in scripture that are…
“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known?” Don’t you just love it when Jesus gets all apocalyptic like this, when he starts throwing tables around, or calling people hypocrites and vipers, or talking about fire and strife and division as if it were a good…
It’s the feast of the Holy Trinity, a feast dedicated to God in all of God’s mysterious, complicated self. It is the custom of the Church to put the seminarian in the pulpit on Trinity Sunday, or the clergy person with the least seniority, not because they have taken theology classes most recently and are therefore able to expound best on this…
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Today is the feast of Pentecost, the fiftieth and last day of Eastertide. The word Pentecost simply means “fifty days,” and the disciples, you may have noticed, were observing the Jewish Pentecost – fifty days after Passover, when a very strange thing happened. This strange thing, the coming of the Holy Spirit into their lives, had been promised…
Alleluia! Christ is risen! And, we remember today, is rising still. The Feast of the Ascension was a couple of days ago, but we always read the story of Jesus’ ascension on the Sunday following as well, on the last Sunday of Eastertide. The Feast of the Ascension is a strange holiday, I think, just as the biblical stories we tell on…
Alleluia! Christ is risen! In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus is trying to explain to the disciples what is going to happen next, and to ease their concerns about it. It takes a long time for Jesus to get his message across. Indeed, John devotes four whole chapters to this conversation, which takes place between the foot-washing at the Last Supper and Jesus’…
Alleluia! Christ is risen! I have preached on today’s gospel lesson, many, many times, but, as the song goes, “never on a Sunday.” This reading from John’s gospel is a favorite at funerals, and it has offered comfort to many. In the reading, Jesus tells his followers not to worry, because God’s house has lots of dwelling places, and they already know…
Alleluia! Christ is risen! The fourth Sunday of Easter is known as Good Shepherd Sunday, and we always take a break at this time from the stories of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances to read one of the several passages from the Gospels where Jesus uses the metaphor of shepherd and sheep to talk about our relationship with Jesus, with, God, and with the…