Thursday, December 5, 2019 | Reflections
Maybe you’ve seen or read or heard about the series of novels that depict life before and after the Rapture. This series and other books and media like it capitalize on our shared preoccupation with what is waiting on the other side.The Second Epistle of Peter helps...
Wednesday, December 4, 2019 | Reflections
Oh, the cows of Bashan. Amos’s harsh words are classic in the canon of prophetic proclamation. Advent may be just the season to pause and notice what inspires his ire—and what it says about our own lives. Bashan is dense, rich pasture land east of the Jordan, between...
Tuesday, December 3, 2019 | Community Ministry
by Br Todd Aquinas van Alstyne, OP Like many children, I grew up hearing about and believing in Saint Nicholas. Different cultures have different stories, legends and myths about Saint Nicholas. Growing up in the Dutch tradition, he was called Sinterklaas. His season...
Tuesday, December 3, 2019 | Reflections
During this time of year, the world enjoys images of a meek and mild baby smiling at his mother. That is not the Jesus we encounter in today’s gospel. What are we to do with this angry young man? To start, we ought to listen to him. Jesus isn’t just angry—he is...
Monday, December 2, 2019 | Community Ministry, Reflections
by the Rev. Robert Beazley, Rector, St. Michael’s, Mandeville Matthew Broderick, through the prophetic words of Ferris Bueller, taught us that, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Those words came to...
Monday, December 2, 2019 | Reflections
Jesus is many things to Christians—Savior and Redeemer, the Son of God, and brother in faith. He is the Light of the World and Root of Jesse. The different names of Jesus go on and on. The one that stands out most in today’s readings may be this: the prophet from...
Sunday, December 1, 2019 | Reflections
Welcome to Advent, the season of anticipation and hope, the season of the prophets. A prophet (or navi in Hebrew) is the spokesperson of God. Prophets speak a true word from God, wake and shake people to attention, and draw us back to God’s purposes. Advent is the...
Saturday, November 30, 2019 | Reflections
The violin section is by far the largest cohort in a symphony orchestra, and it’s divided into two subsections: first violins and second violins. A young violinist may have to play “second fiddle” early in her or his career. Often, many career musicians have to accept...
Friday, November 29, 2019 | Reflections
When we encounter a grammatical adversative—yet, but, however, nonetheless—we are tempted to discount everything that comes before it, particularly if what follows the adversative seems more appealing.There is a branch of Christian theology known as apologetics—the...
Thursday, November 28, 2019 | Reflections
In John’s Gospel, there is no account of the institution of the eucharist at the Last Supper. But John’s sixth chapter, the Bread of Life discourse, is no less eucharistic than the institution narratives in the other gospels.Through ordinary elements of ….(View...
Wednesday, November 27, 2019 | Reflections
As a child, I learned about a country called Yugoslavia. Children today learn instead about Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Kosovo. National identities suppressed by centuries of empire building and colonization have...
Tuesday, November 26, 2019 | Reflections
Without denying the abundance of God’s grace or God’s ability to act independently of human will or human behavior, English clergyman Martin Thornton contends that our growth in the life of grace is something we can take responsibility for through persistent, repeated...
Monday, November 25, 2019 | Reflections
We often think of salvation in terms of the question, “Will I go to heaven when I die?” The word itself points to health and wholeness. (It’s the same root as the exclamation salud! when offering a toast.) Salvation also has meaning in the present. Notice...
Sunday, November 24, 2019 | Reflections
Division and enslavement by sin is the default human condition. It dogs us every day of our lives and at every level of our lives. It mars relationships between people in families, in local communities, among nations, and yes, even in churches. In the collect for...
Saturday, November 23, 2019 | Reflections
The biblical authors employ a wide variety of images and metaphors for how God is or what God is like or how things will be when they are made right, but the descriptions only serve to whet our appetite for what lies ahead. One of Isaiah’s favorite metaphors for this...
