Saturday, January 20, 2018
Mark 1:14-20 Last week we had the expression, “I saw you under the fig tree.” Jesus was talking to Nathaniel and he was saying, “I know you are a man of the Torah.” That’s what being under the fig tree means, “gathering figs” is a reference to Torah study....
Saturday, January 20, 2018
My wife is a wise woman. She won’t give me the answer I’m seeking until I stop asking the question. “What do you want to have for dinner tonight? Do you want me to bake this? Or do you want me to grill that? I could broil something else. Do you want to me to broil...
Thursday, January 18, 2018
Psalm 146:4-9 Genesis 26:26-31 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 John 15:5-8,14-16 In our Gospel reading for the feast of Wulfstan of Worcester today, Jesus says that he is the vine and his disciples are the branches. One might say that Wulfstan was a branch that was pretty...
Thursday, January 18, 2018
When I was thirteen, my grandmother challenged me. Memorize the 23rd Psalm, she said, and I’ll buy you the newest Hardy Boys mystery. I devoured every adventure of Frank and Joe Hardy that I could find, so the words of the psalm were soon locked into place. I knew the...
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
It’s January 18 and I still have my Christmas tree up. It felt like a very short Christmas season this year, so I can’t yet bear to put away the twinkly lights and the homemade ornaments with their simple, joyous beauty. The little tree stands in the...
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
For many, the January landscape is barren. A wind from the north wraps around us like a boa constrictor, squeezing all the warmth away. The leaves are gone; tree limbs look like bare arms raised in prayerful supplication to God, stretching into a gray sky closing in...
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
One of my favorite “comfort movies” is a sweet little gem from 2000 starring Edward Norton (who also directed), Ben Stiller, and Jenna Elfman called Keeping the Faith. The basic outline of the film is the friendship between Brian, a Roman Catholic priest, and Jake, an...
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Have you seen the child wrapped in swaddling clothes? The infant Jesus was here a few days ago. How quickly he disappears after the new year begins. Just when we need him most, Jesus has been packed up as if he were tinsel and twinkling lights, just another decoration...
