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The Unexpected

Matthew 21:1-11 There is a film called The Banshees of Inisherin about a man named Padraic. He is a sweet, gentle guy. He lives on a little island off the coast of Ireland, sharing a cottage with his sister, Siobhan, who loves him. Padraic has a friend Colm, who he thinks loves him, and life is fine – until it isn’t. Something that is said again and again throughout the story is that Padraic always thought of himself as one of the good ones; never harmed anyone, always a kind word for everyone. But when he gets pushed hard enough, it turns out he is capable of some pretty horrific things. Padraic is changed through the course of this story. But in the end, he’s not a different person. He is just showing something that has always been inside of him. It was unexpected. But, in truth, it’s something that is inside of all of us, if we are truthful; […]

The Shepherd

Psalm 23 John 9:1-41 Robert Jones has been a Christian all his life. He was raised in the Southern Baptist Church – this was something that played an important part in forming his identity. But at some point, he began to have questions he could not ignore. There were things about his upbringing and the church community that he grew uncomfortable with. He began noticing the implicit racism all around him. He increasingly became aware of the assumptions that were made about people that no one ever seemed to question. Beliefs and preferences were accepted as facts. But, to Robert, they no longer seemed to be reliably factual. As an adult he pursued a career studying religion in America, particularly the way our religion forms our social and political identity. He founded an organization called the Public Religion Research Institute, which conducts opinion polls to measure how political issues in […]

The Helper

John 3: 1-17 Way back in the beginning, Lent was a season of preparation for new Christians, who would be baptized on Easter Sunday. The typical Lenten discipline was the fast. It was taken very seriously. Usually, fasting was observed Monday through Saturday, when they were permitted only one meal at the end of the day – a vegetarian meal. Sundays were exceptions, because every Sunday is considered a little Easter – a feast day, a celebration of the resurrection. It is rare now for Christians to observe such a strict Lenten discipline. When we think of a Lenten fast, we might think of giving up sweets or caffeine. We consider it optional. And, very likely, we are not really sure what the point of it is. This is probably why many Christians now embrace the idea of taking something up rather than giving something up during Lent – that feels more purposeful, somehow. Yet the Lenten fast is a […]

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 […]

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