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IV Lent – April 3, 2011 – Year A

“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

It may well have been that question, posed by his disciples, that made Jesus decide to break the religious law and heal the blind man on the Sabbath.

It was probably that question.

I won’t go so far as to say that when Jesus heard the question, something snapped, but the answer they got back from him was swift and unequivocal: “Neither ...

III Lent – March 27, 2011 – Year A (RCL)

Today’s Gospel lesson has to do with a woman who, unlike Nicodemus, who came to Jesus in the dead of night, didn’t come to Jesus—just the opposite.

Jesus came to her.

Not only did this woman end up believing in what Jesus had to say—recognizing him for who he was—but she also went and told her friends about him.

It’s quite possible that she and her friends became the nucleus for the first group ...

II Lent – March 20, 2011 – Year A

In the Gospel lesson we just heard we meet a man named Nicodemus.

Who was he?

What do we know about him?

The writer of the Gospel according to John describes him as a Pharisee, a leader of the Jews, who came to Jesus, after hours, so to speak, with a question, only he never got a chance to ask it.

We can only guess what the question might have been.

By the time that Nicodemus gets ...

I Lent – March 13, 2011 – Year A

Thanks to an organization called “The Center for Inquiry” billboards have begun appearing in Indianapolis and other places proclaiming that we “don’t need God—to hope, to care, to love, to live”.

Some of you may have seen them already.

I haven’t, but I’ve seen pictures of them.

Now, of course, a case can be made for such a claim.

As Lutheran Bishop William Gafkjen, writing in yesterday’s Indianapolis Star, readily admits: “Hope, care and love are deeply human ...

Last Epiphany – March 6, 2011 – Year A – RCL

Well, until the rains came and nearly washed us all away, we had a few days there where we saw the sun again and it got a little warmer.

It felt good to doff our coats for a moment and let some of that warmth soak into our bones—let the wearying load of our many responsibilities, real or imagined, fall to the ground for a second or two, and just bask ...

VIII Epiphany – February 27, 2011 – Year A

“So do not worry about tomorrow,” we hear Jesus say to his disciples (and maybe a crowd that has begun to gather).

Ironic, isn’t it, that Lucy and I should have recently returned from a clergy seminar hosted by the national Church called “Planning for Tomorrow”!

Actually, I made it a point to listen closely yesterday because the reading for Noonday Prayer was taken from this morning’s lesson from Matthew, but it ended with ...