Blog (Page 37)
A Tale of Two Parades
Reading: Mt 21:1-11; Is 50:4-7; Phil 2:6-11; Mt 26:14—27:66 Today we celebrate the feast of Palm Sunday as we begin Holy Week. We come back to this great drama year after year in order to reflect upon the deep mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection – a mystery that we participate in as well. The readings are long and full of many themes, so I won’t try to unpack them here. Instead I’ll offer some general thoughts, and they’ll be…
Sacrifice for the Cause of Justice
Readings: Ez 37:21-28; Jn 11:45-56 Ezekiel tells us today that God is trying to make a covenant of everlasting peace with God’s people and Israel will be delivered from its apostasy and idols. The gospel, however, shows us that maybe we (collectively) are not so eager to be parted from our idols. We hear the Sanhedrin speaking about Jesus saying, “What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs.” The Sanhedrin is the local council of elders. …
Haters Gonna Hate
Readings: Jer 20:10-13; Jn 10:31-42 As we close in on Easter, you may start to feel the tension rising in the narrative. The net is tightening on Jesus. Jeremiah the prophet speaks about how people are looking for opportunities to denounce him – including former friends and trusted people. All he is trying to do is help to liberate people, and he gets so much criticism coming back his way. Then in the gospel, people are picking up literal stones…
Name CHange
Thursday, April 2 Readings: Gn 17:3-9; Jn 8:51-59 Quite a few years ago, I heard the spiritual, “If He Changed My Name” sung by my friend and Detroit jazz/gospel singer Ange Smith. It’s a powerful song with lyrics that haunted and stirred me. The song says, “I told Jesus it would be all right if he changed my name…” Check out Nina Simone’s version of the song here. Names mean something. They have power. They have history. They position us…
Resist. Insist. Persist
Wednesday, April 1 Readings: Dn 3:14-20, 91-92, 95; Jn 8:31-42 The first reading from Daniel brings us back to the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. As you likely remember, they refused to worship the gods of Babylon and were thrown into the furnace. Miraculously, a “fourth person” shows up in the furnace with them (described as an angel) who protects them from harm. And then in the gospel, Jesus is engaging in intense conversation with the Jews about who…
Look at the Serpent
Tuesday, March 31 Readings – NM 21:4-9; JN 8:21-30 In the first reading, Moses and the Israelites are in the desert, and things are getting rough again. They’re tired and sick of the food and so they complain (again). God takes this personally and sends serpents to bite them. And a lot of Israelites die. The people realize their mistake and turn their lives around. Moses is instructed to make a serpent out of bronze and put it on a…
Believing Women
Monday, March 30 Readings – DN 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 OR 13:41C-62; JN 8:1-11 We have two readings today of women being accused of something. In the first reading some men who are elders in their community accuse Susanna of an illicit sexual encounter to cover their own inappropriate sexual behavior. They’re even willing to have her stoned, and were it not for Daniel having the courage to speak up and offer counter-testimony, she would have been. Then in the…
Raise Up Love
Sunday, March 29 Readings – EZ 37:12-14; ROM 8:8-11; JN 11:1-45 Earlier this week, I pulled together a little study group via Facebook to break open the readings and reflect with me. And I want to thank Kathy, Ann, Kateri, John, Jonathan and Carol for a very rich and moving conversation. Since I am preaching on these readings at church this weekend and can only offer a portion of what we reflected on together, I wanted to make some of…
Ahhhh, Humanity
Saturday, March 28 Readings – JER 11:18-20; JN 7:40-53 I’ll admit hat today’s readings are a bit complicated for me. If you sometimes have trouble understanding the scriptures, please know that you’re in good company! The first reading from Jeremiah speaks of the innocent one who is headed into violence and then is looking forward to watching God’s vengeance on the people who hurt them. And in the gospel, there’s a somewhat confusing sequence naming the division in the crowd…
First Thoughts
Friday March 27 Readings – WIS 2:1A, 12-22; JN 7:1-2, 10, 25-30 In today’s readings there’s a sobering tone. You can feel the anger, jealousy and violence brewing against the person who is challenging the systems of power, social conventions and taken for granted practices. Even Jesus, who at times seems immune to the anger of the crowd, is on guard and being more careful. Maybe you have had the experience before where you said something difficult to someone else…
Oh How Quickly We Forget
Thursday, March 25 Readings – EX 32:7-14; JN 5:31-47 In the first reading, Moses has to kind of “talk God down” because God is upset that the people have gone astray and become “depraved.” God basically asks, “Don’t they remember that they were brought out of Egypt and now they act like this?” I can imagine Moses, nodding his head, saying to God, “I know, I know…” In the gospel – and we’re reading from the book of John which…
Work That is Ours
Wednesday, March 24 Readings: Is 7:10-14; 8:10; Heb 10:4-10; Lk 1:26-38 Today celebrates the Annunciation when the angel Gabriel “announced” to Mary that she was being asked to be the mother of God in the form of Jesus. The reading from Isaiah is the “foretelling” passage that gets quoted by Christians that “the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us!” Then in Luke we hear the familiar…