8/5/2018
Pentecost 11B
In a family, at bedtime, we said good night, and went to bed; no hug, no kiss. When I went to scout camp every summer, or on a weekend trip, no hugs. Hugs just weren’t part of the culture of my family when I was growing up. Then when I was 28 years old I attended a Cursillo weekend. I came home from that experience with a driving need to show more of how I felt. The next time I visited my dad in northern New York…
7/29/2018
Pentecost 10B
Elisha’s servant thought that 20 loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain were too little to feed 100 people. But Elisha made it to be more than enough. Andrew thought that the 5 barley loaves and 2 fish were not enough to feed the 5,000, but Jesus made it to be more than enough. Paul wrote to the Ephesians about God’s ability to accomplish abundantly far more than we can imagine. But how hard it is sometimes for us to recognize abundance.
7/22/2018
Pentecost 9B
Our God cannot be contained within a mortal shepherd, or a house, or a temple, or within one ‘elect’ people. You and I can find God, see God, and experience God everywhere and anywhere. We should look for God to be in unexpected places.
7/15/2018
Pentecost 8B
The Scriptures show us a study in managing self-esteem. We see HUMILITY in Amos, who claimed only to be a herdsman, and a tree-trimmer. But he also claimed the power of God working through him to speak the truth to Israel. Then we see the strong PRIDE that motivated Herod to execute John the Baptist. To think more highly of ourselves that we ought to is PRIDE. And so we are taught to show humility.
7/01/2018
Pentecost 6B
Jesus healed two women in the Gospel reading today. He healed both of them by touch; by touch that was against the law. He healed the woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. That ailment made her ‘unclean’, and by laws set out in Leviticus, she was to touch no one, not attend church, and keep herself away from other people – in this case, for twelve years.
Of course, Jesus ignored the regulation, and healed her.
6/24/2018
Pentecost 5B
The wind was whipping water over the gunwales, and the waves were throwing the boat around like a toy boat in a bathtub. The disclples shouted to Jesus in order to wake him up, and out of fear, “Lord, don’t you care that we are perishing?” Jesus answered his frightened disciples’ plea for help by calming the storm with just a few word, “Peace! Be still!”.
From the disciples’ perspective, this was it; they were going to die, and Jesus didn’t seem to care.
6/17/2018
Pentecost 4B
A few years ago a friend of mine, Father Mike Ferrito in San Jose, learned without warning that he had to undergo surgery to remove a third of his large intestines, because of something doctors found in a regular annual exam. I visited him at the hospital to check on him, pray for him, and anoint him. I gave him one of Ruthie’s blessed angel coins. He closed his hand around the coin, and told me that this really meant a lot, and he wanted to tell me why…
6/3/2018
Pentecost 2, Year B, Proper 4
In Deuteronomy, Moses reminds the people of Israel what laws God had given them. One law was to observe the Sabbath and keep it holy. Over the years this morphed into a collection of rules that governed what could or could not be done on the Sabbath Day.
I remember visiting my aunt and uncle in Florida. They were Methodists – strict Methodists.
5/20/2018
Pentecost Day
I like order. I like systems; schedules; and spreadsheets with embedded formulas. I like planning meetings; things written down in one place with notations of action items that are due. I try to loosen up, but I can’t. I like to be prepared for what is going to happen, and for what might happen. I need to know I have done all that I can to be prepared for any surprises, and maybe even avoid them. The problem with my problem – is that I have learned life is full of surprises.
5/6/2018
Sixth Sunday of Easter
The way we ACT in life should be defined by our relationship of love with Jesus and with God the Father. Priest and author Barbara Brown Taylor has written, “God expects us to step up… Knowing God’s Word is no substitute for doing it.”