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The Resister

Matthew 4:1-11 I have some friends who told me once that in their basement they have a room full of provisions – stocked floor to ceiling with cases of bottled water, cartons of canned and dried food. It all started because of Y2K. Back in the year 1999 when we all wondered if the computers that run everything would make it through the millennium safely. And if they didn’t it would be Armageddon, for sure. The computers were okay, it turned out, nothing terrible happened. But since that time, there have been other reasons to stockpile. There is always, it seems, a reason to stockpile things. But you have to maintain it, replenishing as necessary, with new items as the older ones pass their expiration date. The old ones then get tossed in the trash. I thought of that recently when I was talking with another friend about her parents. […]

In the Cloud

Exodus 24:12-18 Matthew 17:1-9 An interesting thing has been happening at a small Christian school in Kentucky, Asbury University. On Wednesday February 8, students gathered in the chapel for morning prayer service. This is a normal part of college life at Asbury, like many religiously based schools. People say it was routine. Ordinary. Unremarkable. Then, when the service ended a small group of students stayed behind to continue praying together. All morning, they prayed. All afternoon. When evening came, they were still there and more students were joining them. They continued in prayer all through the night and the next day, and the days after that. And they are still praying. Some people posted videos on TikTok, which caught the attention of the world. Pretty soon, young people were dropping their plans and heading to Asbury. Flying in from Hawaii, driving down from Illinois, college students are being drawn to […]

The Heart of the Matter

There is a story by Graham Greene called The Heart of the Matter. It takes place during the Second World War in an unnamed British colony in Africa. Greene does a very effective job of showing what a difficult cultural experience it was for everyone involved. Those who felt the oppression of British rule, of course, but also the peculiar discomforts of the British working in this foreign land. There was much talk about the weather – far too hot and humid and sunny for the English, except during the rainy season, six months when they all fear they may drown. There was the malaria, which seemed to be an inevitability for anyone who was there long enough, and apparently no treatment for it except quinine. So, lots of gin and tonics. And there was the overwhelming level of distrust – which went in every direction, and this is where we see the real problem. The distrust, the constant tendency to be suspicious of others’ […]

Salt and Light

Matthew 5:13-20 When I was a graduate student in Texas, I attended a Lutheran campus ministry. We had services every Sunday morning, just like most churches. We followed the lectionary, we heard a sermon, and we celebrated the sacraments. Our pastor, whom we called PJ, had a certain way he liked to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. He would invite us all up to the front, to stand in a circle around the altar. And the first thing he would do was take a little dish of salt. He would go around the circle to each one of us, take a pinch of salt and put it on our tongues, saying, “remember your baptism.” Remember your baptism. I was always a little bit mystified by this ritual. I wasn’t entirely certain I understood what salt had to do with my baptism. But I liked it. A little bit of salt tastes […]

The Blessing Way

Micah 6:1-8 Matthew 5:1-12 There is a movie called Hashtag Blessed. It’s about a young woman who is miserable in her life for a variety of reasons, but one key cause is that she is trying to live her life through the lens of Instagram. And that is a lens that is almost guaranteed to make you feel like your life doesn’t measure up. She scrolls through and sees a picture from a friend who just got a new car! #blessedlife! Other friends looking fine in their fancy clothes, hanging out in elegant places, surrounded by dazzling, glittery things – #blessedlife! Real life just doesn’t measure up to that for most of us. Sometimes we are a little confused about what it means when we talk about blessing, being blessed. In the popular vernacular, to be blessed is about the same as being lucky. Or maybe being good – good […]

Saying “Yes”

Matthew 4:12-23 Something that has become a popular thing for the church to do around epiphany is a thing called Star Words. This activity is based on the premise of the magi followed the star to find Jesus. And so each person is given a star with a single word printed on it. Somehow, we follow where that word leads us. Spiritually. For a whole year. You can use it in your daily prayer, journaling, art, or however you like. I have never done it before, but this year I went to a presbytery Epiphany luncheon where I was offered a star. I selected a bright pink one. The color made me smile. But when I turned it over and looked at the word I stopped smiling. The word was “Try.” Try? Who would think that this word would be a good word to meditate on? Try? Just looking at […]

What Men Are These?

Matthew 2:1-12 Because I wanted to get off to a riveting start this year, I thought we might begin with a little examination of the genealogy of Jesus. Shall we? Yes, I know. Some of you are thinking reading through the genealogy is about as riveting as reading through the card catalog. And others of you are now thinking what’s a card catalog? But, come on. It will be fun. “Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers” – and it goes on for a bit like that. Typically, genealogies in scripture contain the names of the men in the line of descent – the patriarchs. And there are plenty of them in this list. So many that most readers probably don’t even notice that Matthew has thrown a few women in. Four, to be exact. What […]

Sacred Doing

Isaiah 63:7-9 Matthew 2:13-23 I have been reminded this week about a remark someone made to me once. Nothing you probably haven’t heard too. Just that all the things that happen in our lives – the happy things, the sad things, the crazy things, the boring things – they all stay with us and remain a part of who we are and always will be. Our life experiences – all of them, not just the ones we choose, make us the men and women we are. The good, the bad, and the indifferent. We can’t do anything about that. All we can do is choose how we will remember it, and that is a choice. How we choose to remember the things that have made up our lives, it matters. The ways in which we remember things are important for how they shape us, how they give our life meaning. […]

The Face of God

In the Old Testament stories of the fathers of our faith – Abraham, Jacob, Moses – they speak of seeing the face of God. For these men of ancient days, there was the longing to see, the hope of seeing, and yet, for most, the impossibility of seeing God face to face. Still they hoped. We, too, might know this yearning, this desire to see God and feel God’s presence more fully. Because there is something in us that knows: in nearness to God we may know life in its fullness. It is a great mystery, one that we find ourselves drawn to again and again. It is this mystery that showed itself to Mary and Joseph, each one of them visited by an angel. In these visions, or dreams, they learned that they would become parents together of a very special son – one who would bring salvation to […]

Sacred Knowing

Isaiah 7:10-16 Matthew1:18-25 I don’t think I have ever quoted rap lyrics before, but the words that I keep thinking of all week come from the Notorious B.I.G: If you don’t know, now you know. If you don’t know, now you know: that something, maybe something you never wanted to know, something you never even guessed at…something your imagination could not encompass…well, now you know. Now you know…and the question is, what are you going to do with it? Like King Ahaz, whom we meet in Isaiah. Ahaz is in a tight spot. Caught between two choices, neither of which feels good to him. Ahaz thinks he knows what is right. He knows the law, as he should. But he also knows he is afraid, like everyone else around him is. The Lord comes to Ahaz and asks him: wouldn’t you like to know what I know? But Ahaz doesn’t want […]

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