Tuesday, August 27, 2019 | Annual Convention, Message from Bishop Thompson
Dear Clergy and Wardens of the Diocese of Louisiana, NOTICE OF THE 182nd CONVENTION OF THE DIOCESE OF LOUISIANA It is my honor and privilege as your Bishop, to give you notice of the 182nd Convention of the Diocese of Louisiana on November 1-2, 2019. Convention will...
Tuesday, August 27, 2019 | Reflections
Paul has been in prison at Caesarea for two years, and he is in what seems to be a constant state of self-defense. And yet Paul is always telling the story of Jesus of Nazareth. He will not be deterred. Agrippa himself accuses Paul of trying to convert him....
Monday, August 26, 2019 | Reflections
Again, the daily readings are a festival of intrigue. Bathsheba and Nathan scheme against a pretender to David’s throne. Paul continues his self-defense arguments, this time in front of Agrippa. And in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus’ mood is positively apocalyptic....
Sunday, August 25, 2019 | Reflections
Unlike some of us, Jesus does not discriminate. He offers healing and fellowship willy-nilly to all who come along and ask—and even to those who don’t ask for it. Jesus’ decision to heal a woman on the Sabbath is one of many actions that keep getting ….(View...
Saturday, August 24, 2019 | Reflections
Bad things happen to good people. And yet, the Lord is our refuge and our habitation and we are under God’s protection. We must hold these two conflicting facts in tension. Bartholomew is a good companion in this hard task of faith in part because very li….(View...
Friday, August 23, 2019 | Reflections
Herod the Great built Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean coast—a fancy summer home with breezes and access to sea. The ruins of this harbor city are still there: the commercial port, theater, aqueduct, and the palace of the Roman procurator, which was at one point...
Thursday, August 22, 2019 | Reflections
All our lessons today burst with intrigue. There is trouble in David’s court, and Absalom has just been killed. Paul’s imprisonment continues, and the plot thickens. In Mark, Jesus is wrapping up a fraught debate session with those wily priests and scribes....
Wednesday, August 21, 2019 | Reflections
One of the beautiful things about the Daily Office Lectionary and its guide to reading through scripture is the opportunity to read the psalms in quantity. Reading them this way is a bit like reading an epic, generational novel. The whole human experience is there:...
Tuesday, August 20, 2019 | Reflections
My first memory of this verse is from a nineteenth-century primitive chapel. Behind the altar is a massive plate-glass window, which overlooks miles and miles of the ancient Ozark Mountains. Carved above the window is the inscription: I will lift up mine eyes unto the...
Monday, August 19, 2019 | Reflections
I just love this story, which is euphemistically referred to as “The Cleansing of the Temple.” How are we to understand what’s going on here? Through the interpretive lens of two millennia, we figure Jesus has every reason for his unexpected actions and that the...
