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Pentecost 4B; 6/17/2018

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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…

Pentecost 2B; 6/3/2018

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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.

Pentecost Day; 5/20/2018

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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.

Fifth Sunday of Easter 4/29/2018

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4/29/2018
Fifth Sunday of Easter

When I was a teenage boy, I was active in Boy Scouts. I loved it. I loved camping out, I loved learning how to read maps and to follow marked trails. I loved wearing my scout uniform, and I loved earning merit badges. I looked forward to every summer, when I knew that my parents would let me leave the family business for a week, and go off to scout camp: Camp Portaferry in the Adirondack Mountains in NNY.

Fourth Sunday of Easter 4/22/2018

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4/22/2018
Fourth Sunday of Easter

In the late 1960’s someone published a collection of wisdom sayings common to American mothers. Some of those sayings sound very familiar to me; “OK, you can go to Randy’s house, but don’t overstay your welcome.” “Just because somebody jumps off a bridge, does that mean that you jump, too?” And the one I remember the most, “Don’t make me call your father.” Can you hear your mother’s voice there?

Third Sunday of Easter 4/15/2018

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4/15/2018
Third Sunday of Easter

The Scripture lessons today describe more than one transformation that began with the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus proved that his resurrection was no illusion; his appearance was not in some ghostly form; he was physically present and alive. But John’s account of this meeting tells us that while Jesus proved his physical presence to Thomas and the others, he got into the room through locked doors!