Monday, March 12, 2018 | Reflections
This section of Luke’s Gospel drives home a key point: Jesus is committed to finding and reclaiming those who have wandered away from God and are behaving destructively toward themselves and others. Those people would be most of us. First we hear about finding the...
Monday, March 12, 2018 | Reflections
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Sunday, March 11, 2018 | Reflections
While we are firmly told it is not what we put in our mouths, but what comes out of it, most of us are answerable to God and our doctor. No [fill in the blank, and it can be a long list]. I was brought up on a lot of traditional British and European foods –...
Sunday, March 11, 2018 | Reflections
Most of us don’t know a lot about sheep and lambs. We may be tempted to think of them as rather boring members of God’s kingdom. They have wool, and some people eat them. But that’s not the way Jesus sees sheep —and thanks be to God. Jesus knows that sheep are...
Saturday, March 10, 2018 | Reflections
I live in a small oasis town in Northern Saudi Arabia. On a clear day, from the roof of my building, I can clearly see the desert, it’s hilly dunes, and the never-ending sand. Well, I suppose it ends somewhere. This is an open country where you can see for miles...
Saturday, March 10, 2018 | Reflections
Jesus has some really tough words to say to us here. How could Jesus want us to hate our family members? Does he really want us to give up everything: house, home, car, clothes? Jesus’ words remind me of many stewardship questions I’ve heard: Does tithing mean 10...
Friday, March 9, 2018 | Reflections
I have recently taken up knitting again. I used to do it, probably 30 years ago or more, but I got away from it for some reason. In Arizona, all the sweaters, heavy shawls, afghans, and ponchos are seldom needed, but it’s a temptation to do handcrafts just for...
Friday, March 9, 2018 | Reflections
A woman I know has a beloved catalpa tree in her yard. The tree blooms every spring, but the blossoms only last one day. Several weeks in advance, the woman calls her friends and invites them to a celebration: “You have to be ready. I don’t know when the tree will...
Thursday, March 8, 2018 | Reflections
Trigger Warning: for discussion of sexual harassment and abuse. I’ve been thinking a lot about atonement and forgiveness in the light of #MeToo movement. It was horrifyingly unsurprising to see the magnitude of sexual harassment and sexual violence in our...
Thursday, March 8, 2018 | Reflections
I have a friend who is studying to be a priest. Because of a tragic fall years ago, her life is full of challenges. She is hooked up to a feeding tube for fifteen hours a day. She tires easily. Hospitalized six times for sepsis, an often-fatal condition, she lives on...
Wednesday, March 7, 2018 | Reflections
Mark 6:30-46 The moment when darkness recedes from the morning and the sky blossoms crimson, orange and cream, the world seems to take a deep breath. I do, too. Poised on the edge of all the possible beginnings for this day, my spirit reaches for Ruach, the Wind that...
Wednesday, March 7, 2018 | Reflections
Scuttling after the crowd, the crippled woman moves like a crab, unable to stand up straight. Just to catch a glimpse of the man she’s heard so much about will be almost impossible, but it will make her long, difficult trek to town worth it. The pain of twisting her...
Tuesday, March 6, 2018 | Reflections
I wrote this poem at the end of the year, 2012, though never published it. Today it speaks to me as a timely Lenten reflection: “We can choose to do better starting today.” Constellation In your dreams, they are there, threading beads on a string...
Tuesday, March 6, 2018 | Reflections
People from Maya Angelou and John F. Kennedy to Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben have been credited for this famous line: “To whom much is given, much will be required.” But Jesus is the true author of the statement—and he says it three times in Luke’s Gospel (see also 8:18 and...
Monday, March 5, 2018 | Reflections
I find myself sitting in the back of the sanctuary. My toddler daughter remains at the front of the church sitting with some of her favorite church people. I take our 7-month-old and sit on a rocking chair. We nurse and cuddle. He fusses a bit. I listen to the...
