2 Kings 2:1-2,6-14 Last week we were with Elijah on Mount Horeb listening to the Lord in the silence…when Elijah came to know that he was not actually alone as he had thought. There were thousands more doing the same work he was doing. He heard from the Lord that he should find a man called Elisha, son of Shaphat of Abel-mehola, and anoint him prophet. Elisha would be the one to take Elijah’s place. So Elijah went off in search of Elisha. He found him out plowing a field. Elijah walked by the other man and threw his mantle over him. Elisha stepped away from the plow and followed him. And from that point on they were a pair – teacher and disciple. Until the day when Elijah’s time was up. It seems they both knew it. In fact, it seems like everyone knew; the company of prophets […]
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The One Who Fills Us
1 Kings19:1-15a If you only knew this particular episode in the prophet’s life, then you would imagine Elijah must have had a pretty lousy run to get so far down in the dumps. But it is really just the opposite. Before this chapter, Elijah had just come off the greatest success imaginable. It’s one of the highlights of the Old Testament, in fact. Israel has been in a drought for three years. King Ahab would, of course, love to see the drought end because it’s eating away at his approval ratings. But Ahab has another problem too, which involves his wife – Queen Jezebel. She is not an Israelite. When she married Ahab and came to Israel she brought her gods with her – the Baals, as they are called. Baal is not a proper name, but a title, like lord. The Baals are idols of other cultures, and we know from the scriptures that the people of Israel were prone to dabbling in Baal worship. […]
Continue readingBlessed Trinity
Romans 5:1-5 John 16:12-15 Today is Trinity Sunday, which is a thing that is hard to get excited about, I have to admit. It just feels very abstract. The doctrine of the trinity is hard. In fact, the first thing you need to say about it is that it is not a thing we can really comprehend, so we shouldn’t even try. But we do try. We are continually making all kinds of creative analogies in order to make sense of it. The Trinity is like water, we say, which can take three forms: ice, liquid, and steam. Or the Trinity is like a man, who can be at the same time father, son, and uncle. St. Patrick said the Trinity is like a shamrock, one object with three distinct leaves. And none of these analogies work. Because there is nothing that is like the Trinity. But we continue to try. […]
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Acts 2:1-21 Breath is the most natural thing in the world, until it’s not. It’s almost entirely automatic, and that’s a good thing. If we had to think about it our lives would be in peril every time we dropped off to sleep, or our minds wandered even a little bit. We take breathing for granted most of the time, but then there are moments when we realize how amazing it is. When a newborn child takes his first breath, there is a cheer of relief and delight in the room. In the same way, those who sit watch at a deathbed let out a sigh of prayer when the dying person has breathed her last. Breath separates life from death. So many more of us became acutely aware of this during these past couple of years of COVID-19. Many more people experienced what it is like to not be […]
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Amos 5:16-24 John 17:20-26 In ancient Israel the center of religion was the temple in Jerusalem. Before that it was the tabernacle that they constructed during their time in the wilderness. There was, for hundreds of years, a single place the people went to worship the Lord. And the central act of religion was sacrifice. Not prayer, not reading from scripture or singing hymns, but sacrifice. The book of Leviticus provides in detail all the written laws about how and why to make sacrifices to God. They were called offerings, and there were several kinds. There was a guilt offering, a sin offering, an offering of well-being, a thank offering. The offering might be the grain from your fields, but more often an animal was required – a bull, a sheep, a goat. And if you could not afford one of these larger animals, you could bring two turtle doves. […]
Continue readingDo You Want to Be Made Well?
Revelation 21:10; 21:22-22:5 John 5:1-9 One of my favorite places in the world is a pool in Austin Texas called Barton Springs. Barton Springs is a natural limestone pool that is fed by an underground stream – the Edwards Aquifer. The water is constantly bubbling up into the pool from what they call the mother spring, which is located under the diving board. The constant flow keeps the water a cool 68 degrees year-round. No matter how hot it gets, and it gets really hot, a dip in Barton Springs is refreshing. There are people who can be found at Barton Springs every day. They go to swim laps in the 900-foot-long pool, or just to sit on a rock and chat with friends. There are people for whom this is church. There is something about these waters that seem to bring healing to the body, mind and soul. […]
Continue readingInestimable Grace
Revelation 21:1-6 Acts 11:1-18 I don’t think I have ever read a book that, on page 263 had a red arrow in the margin and the words: here is the climax of the story, right here! Or asterisks that say: take note: this is important! Writers don’t tell you that stuff – not in that way, at least. But there are other ways of discerning what is really important. One way we understand that something significant is happening is when time slows down. Better than using flashing arrows and lights, the act of slowing the narrative down can communicate in an organic way that this is very important business going on right now. The story about Peter and the Gentiles is given a solid chapter and a half – 66 verses. This is an episode we should sit up and pay attention to, because something big is happening here. […]
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Acts 9:36-43 Her name was Tabitha. Or maybe it was Dorcas, depending on the language we are speaking, but in both Aramaic and in Greek her name meant gazelle. A beautiful name, gazelle, an animal that is known to be swift and small, graceful in its movements. Her name may have been chosen for these reasons. Perhaps her parents hoped for her to be lovely and gentle, and bring more beauty to the world. We know that in her heart and soul she was truly lovely; we know that through her care for others she brought beauty to the world; we know that she was deeply loved by many. Tabitha was quick to serve anyone around her who was in need. She took especially good care of the widows in her community. It might be easy for us to forget, but in that time a widow was an especially vulnerable […]
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John 21:1-19 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the greeting Paul liked to use in his letters he sent to churches. In these weeks since Easter Sunday I have been thinking about the kinds of feelings the disciples of Jesus might have experienced after his resurrection. And, as I said last week, it is possible that fear was one of those feelings. They may have been afraid for a number of reasons. Among other things, they had their own personal guilt to deal with, because they had failed Jesus spectacularly. They let him die. Not that they could have prevented it, of course. Even though they had tried a few times to stop him from going down the path. He would not be stopped. There wasn’t anything much they could do, other than die with him, and how would that […]
Continue readingThe Truth about Belief
John 20:19-31 Many of you know that in the Presbyterian church we have a tradition of confirming young people to bring them into the full membership of the church. It usually requires a series of classes, in which they might learn about Presbyterian polity, doctrine, and whatever is deemed necessary by the particular church. There is a lot of discretion in how the classes are run. But one thing that is not discretionary is the mandatory meeting with the session. Session is responsible for all matters of membership, and it is necessary for the session to “examine” anyone who desires to become a member of the congregation. Usually a confirmation class will meet with the session after they have completed their course of study, and the session members will ask them a few questions to get a feel for what they have learned and how they might talk about their […]
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