That Sinking Feeling
If you have faith there is no doubt it will be tested. . .sometimes over and over again. Guaranteed.
This weekend’s First Reading and Gospel show two giants of the faith, Elijah and Peter at that moment when you get that sinking feeling, that moment in life when faith gives way to despair.
Elijah […]

Grief, Interrupted…
Embedded in the Gospel reading this weekend is the Feeding of the Five Thousand, a miracle story which appears in all four gospels.
The Gospel reading begins, however, with an interesting detail, which few preachers, I imagine, will choose to focus on—the death of John the Baptist.
The reading, from the 14th chapter of […]

Humble Access
I read the story the other day of a local alcoholic, covered with tattoos, who had a less-than-holy reputation in town. Goes into the quick-mart to buy a six-pack, takes the change in lottery tickets and wins $6,000,000.00. Reading the story, I mumbled to myself, “This guy didn’t deserve to win all […]

The Patient Gardener
It was a defining moment in our marriage. My wife was a person who loved to tend her garden. She knew the names of flowers I had never even heard of. She loved planting and watering–the joy of waiting, oh, so patiently for her plants to grow. Knowing little […]

A Faith For the Peaks and Valleys
As a diptych to the story of the temptation of Jesus, the Transfiguration is always proclaimed on the Second Sunday of Lent. The title masks its deeper meaning, since the earliest English use of “transfiguration” is for the feast, and the word rarely appears in secular discourse. A better […]

When Servants Suffer
As a student of the Bible, I have long pondered what is known as the Servant Songs in the Old Testament book of Isaiah. Some of these “songs” are a bit mysterious, as the identity of the “servant” is not clear.
However, in today’s reading from Isaiah, the servant is clearly identified as […]

The Risk of Becoming (A) Human
As I reflect on the mystery and wonder of Christmas, I marvel at the choice God made to become human—to become one of us. The story of Christmas is so familiar, we often fail to take in the true significance of this event for us. Preoccupied with the […]

To Believe in the Dream. . . .
It was a few days before Christmas. A woman woke up one morning and told her husband, “I just dreamed that you gave me a pearl necklace for Christmas. What do you think this dream means?” “Oh,” her husband replied, “you’ll know the day after tomorrow.”
The next […]

‘Definitively Loved’—A Story of Advent Hope
“I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me—I am awaited by this love. And so my life is good.”
Saint Josephine Bakhita
Hope is one of the great promises of Advent. But if you ask children (or even adults) at this time of year what they hope for you […]

Cleaning House
John the Baptist’s fiery call to repentance sounds harsh when we’re in the midst of preparations for the baby Jesus. The birth of a child is usually preceded by joyful expectation. But the child envisioned by John will come with an axe, with a winnowing fork and with purging flame.
Although John is most severe […]