Blog (Page 34)
A stiff-necked people
Thursday, April 4 Readings: EX 32:7-14; JN 5:31-47 In the first reading, God tells Moses that the Israelites are a “stiff necked people” and that God intends to send wrath upon the people. Instead of fidelity to God, the people have made a calf of molten gold and now look to it for help and guidance. God is not pleased. Moses bargains with God and reminds God that the Israelites were not brought out of Egypt only to be exterminated…
God’s work
Wednesday, April 3 Readings: IS 49:8-15; JN 5:17-30 I take great hope in Isaiah’s words today. In spite of all that has happened to us and in spite of all we have done, God will not forget us, and on the day of salvation God will be there for us. The land will be restored. There won’t be hunger or thirst. The roads will be made level. The world will break out into song. The afflicted will be comforted. Now…
That is how it was…
Tuesday, April 2 Readings: EZ 47:1-9, 12; JN 5:1-16 The words of Ezekiel today are a reminder of the scriptural grounding in ecology and geography – and the promise of what would be our inheritance if we had cared for it. Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live, and there shall be abundant fish, for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh. Along both banks of the river, fruit trees…
Sign of the times
Monday, April 1 Readings: IS 65:17-21; JN 4:43-54 In the first reading, Isaiah gives us a picture of what the future will be like – the new heavens and the new earth where there is happiness and rejoicing. Where the infant mortality will be almost nonexistent and people won’t die young. We know we’re not there yet. In Rochester, for example, our infant mortality rate is much higher than the national average of 5.7 (per 1000 births, last measured in…
Reproach removed
Sunday, March 31 Readings: JOS 5:9A, 10-12; 2 COR 5:17-21; LK 15:1-3, 11-32 Today’s readings remind me of what goes in to healing from difficult events. In the first reading from Joshua, the Israelites are finally “stable” and settled in their new land. God says, “Today, I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.” I had to look up what it meant just to be sure… In the biblical sense, reproach refers to the shame and disgrace caused by…
We can be restored
Saturday, March 30 Readings: HOS 6:1-6; LK 18:9-14 Hosea continues the lamentation today for how the people have gone astray and yet trusts in God’s ability to restore us. It reminds me a bit of Step 2 from Alcoholics Anonymous where it is said that, “We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” During Lent, it is important to believe that we can be restored to sanity from all of our personal and…
The trees will teach us
Friday, March 29 Readings: HOS 14:2-10; MK 12:28-34 In the first reading from Hosea, we hear the counsel to return to God after having gone astray. I couldn’t help but notice the many references to plant life and trees in this one brief passage. Have a look for yourself: I will be like the dew for Israel: he shall blossom like the lily; He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar, and put forth his shoots; His splendor shall be…
Our God is a subversive God
Thursday March 28 Readings: JER 7:23-28; LK 11:14-23 Did you ever try to give somebody some good advice and they just did not take it? You could see clearly what they needed, and yet they somehow could not. Maybe we’ve been in that situation ourselves where someone has offered us good counsel that we just could not receive. That’s what Jeremiah describes today. God laments that the people, “have not obeyed me nor paid heed; they have stiffened their necks…
I came not to abolish the law…
Wednesday March 27 Readings: DT 4:1, 5-9; MT 5:17-19 Moses is instructing the Israelites to heed the decrees and statues that God has given to them. He counsels them to “not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live.” This is the generation that witnessed the escape from Egypt, survived in the desert and received the commandments. And Jesus speaks to how he has come not…
That many times?
Tuesday, March 26 Readings: DN 3:25, 34-43; MT 18:21-35 We hear a beautiful line spoken in Daniel today, “And now we follow you with our whole heart.” This is likely an aspirational statement yet a great one for Lent where we strive every day to give more and more of ourselves to God. One way to bring our whole heart to God is elaborated in the gospel. Jesus is telling his disciples about forgiveness and of course they want to…
Annunciations
Monday March 25 Readings: IS 7:10-14; 8:10; HEB 10:4-10; LK 1:26-38 Today the church celebrates the feast of the Annunciation where Mary receives the invitation from the angel Gabriel to bear Jesus. And she accepts! I have always loved this “feast” because, for me, it celebrates all of the many ways – big and small – that we say, “Yes,” to God with no promise that anything is going to work out. I think it honors the risks we take,…
Remove your sandals
Sunday, March 24 Readings: EX 3:1-8A, 13-15; 1 COR 10:1-6, 10-12; LK 13:1-9 We have a powerful set of readings in front of us today In Exodus, Moses meets God through the burning bush. One of my favorite lines from this reading is, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” In my mind, God could say that about EVERY place we find ourselves. This may be the ultimate call to an environmental…