Sweetly Sleeping

Proper 8, Year B: Psalm 30; Mark 5:21-43 There is a historic graveyard in East Texas between Kountze and Lumberton that I have visited throughout my life because several generations of my family are buried there. It’s an old cemetery, established in 1850, so there are sections where many of the markers are crumbling and …

A Posture of Trust

Proper 7, Year B: Mark 4:35-41; Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32 In the Vatican Museum, there is a fragment of a stone sarcophagus[1], carved by an artist, likely in the 3rd century. While the remainder of this stone coffin is lost to us, the remaining fragment bears enough visual information to evoke a gospel story. Four figures are featured, …

Christ’s zone forever.

Pentecost 2021: Ezekiel 37:1-14; Romans 8:22-27; John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15. I was afraid of the dark when I was a child. I recall waking up in the middle of the night, surrounded by darkness. Filtered moonlight streaming through the limbs and leaves of nearby trees blown about by the wind, creating dancing shadows across the walls …

You Are Sent (The Chemical Engineer’s Tale)

In the cloister at Canterbury Cathedral, England (2015). Easter 7, Year B: Psalm 1, John 17:6-19. During the middle ages, a concept emerged of the Christian as viator. Viator is Latin for traveler, and the spiritual practice of pilgrimage grew in tremendous popularity during medieval times.  Jerusalem was the pilgrimage to make, as our ultimate destination is to the heavenly Jerusalem. …

We won’t know until May…

Easter 5, Year B: 1 John 4:7-21; John 15:1-8. We cover a lot of topics in Zoom coffee hour every Sunday at 11:45. I suppose it’s just like in-person coffee hour in that way. We share our faith. We also share stories of wildlife (I particularly enjoy racoon stories) and gardening. After the terrible freeze …

“The Shepherd’s Prayer”

Easter 4, Year B, Good Shepherd Sunday: Psalm 23; John 10:11-18. Julia had been declining for quite some time. She was a faithful and fashionable, elderly woman whom I enjoyed getting to know during pastoral visits. During one visit, we prayed together and as I closed with “Amen,” the sound of church bells filled the room.  …

New beginnings & Easter joy

Easter 2021: Mark 16:1-8. It feels like quite a while ago, but it was just last week — Palm Sunday — that we reflected on a line from Jesus’ instruction to the two disciples who were sent to fetch a donkey for his procession into Jerusalem.  “If anyone asks why are you doing this …” This week …

Good Friday witness

Good Friday 2021: Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 18:1 – 19:42. We were gathered in the old parish hall across the way. Young and old alike, we gathered at the end of the Lenten season, to watch a movie of the life of Christ.  I’m sure that movie projector is long gone, but I remember watching …

Maundy Thursday: The Uncut Version of John chapter 13

Maundy Thursday 2021: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-17, 31b-35. You’ve likely noticed that something is missing tonight.  It’s rather obvious: it’s a Maundy Thursday service with no foot-washing! We can expect the return of this ritual when the pandemic is behind us.  But, there’s something perhaps less obvious that’s missing. I wonder if you noticed …

Why are you doing this?

Palm Sunday, Year B: Mark 11:1-11; Mark 15:1-39. Why?  Is a question that three-year-olds cannot stop asking and one that adults sometimes forget to ask. *Why?  Is a question that can uncover meaning, purpose, motivation. It is a question that cuts through the noise, the static, and the banter. **Why?  Is a question that seeks …