Through the years I’ve had the privilege of forming relationships with people who, for one reason or another, although they’d grown up in church as Christian young people, in later years became disinterested in identifying themselves as Christians. My experience is that many of these people had been taught a most simplistic view of Christian history and the Bible, and, when they grew up, discovered that life was more complex that these views allowed.  Mistaking that childish form of Christianity for the only true version of it, they chose to sacrifice it rather than their intellect in science or history,… Continue reading →

If we’re following the Revised Common Lectionary, each year on the Sunday after Easter, we read the Lesson about Thomas from John’s Gospel.  This can get kind of tedious, but it also may be a salutary reminder that, even in the midst of the most faithful group of people there are those who are willing to have a robust faith without having ever seen a first-hand demonstration of Jesus power, and those who aren’t, but who demand to have an immediate experience for themselves. And, while the story calls the former kind of disciples “blessed,” it does not say the… Continue reading →

People have been preaching and teaching on Easter about the resurrection of Jesus for thousands of years.  It’s all been said, and many of you will have heard what could pass for a summary of much that there is to say.  Indeed, I’ve been at work here for a long time, and certainly shot my bolt as well, so if you’re looking for novelty, you won’t find it today. Yet perhaps, that’s just the point about such days as Easter and Christmas. The basics of the days themselves don’t change. I learned something a long time ago about knowing things… Continue reading →

In the Church Year, at least according to the Revised Common Lectionary which I have used over the past sixteen years, this Sunday marks two occasions rolled into one, Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday, and these two do not head exactly the same way down the road, or don’t seem to.  The Old Testament Lesson is a reading for Passion Sunday, and comes from one of the Servant Songs in Isaiah. At least classically Christians have always recognized the ministry of Jesus in the figure of the Servant of the Lord, not the least because Jesus seems to see his… Continue reading →

I think we all know that we live in a world where things are changing.  There are immense cultural changes in every aspect of experience, from personal and institutional ones, to larger societal ones. We cannot just assume that what we thought would always be around, will.  In church life, such situations, of course, breed their own experts who pronounce on what we need to do to make ourselves relevant or adapt ourselves to the changed environment, circumstances, paradigm, or whatever the right word is at this moment.  At this point I need to issue a warning, this is not… Continue reading →

Last week we looked at the necessity for finding new orientations in our Christian lives, sometimes radical, sometimes not so much. These course corrections are intended to open ourselves up to new ways of seeing and doing things that are more aligned with the values of Jesus and the Good News for our present day, rather than just being bound by with the way that things used to be done. Such things take work. 

Today’s lessons offer us the insight we’re not in this all alone.  We are constantly the recipients of God’s help through the Living Word, through the… Continue reading →

In Lent, we often think about the quality of our discipleship to Jesus. I keep saying that none of this needs be morose, but, as we find that our discipleship needs a tune-up, some of that can be a little depressing. Well, today’s passages all deal with “repentance,” which can continue such a trend.  If you have a Baptist background (and some others, too), the picture that may come into your mind when repentance is mentioned may be old fashioned evangelists preaching at the top of their lungs about God’s anger at us, and our need to “repent” lest God… Continue reading →

In Isaiah, chapter 40, just before those famous lines we sang as a call to worship: “Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength,” we read why their strength needed to be renewed:  “Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young shall fall exhausted.”  In short, life’s exhausting, so people, even strong people, who would make it through need to wait upon the Lord.  That word “to wait,” comes from a word for a line or cord, stretched tight.  Those who wait are “stretched tight, or taut” waiting to see what happens next.  It is an… Continue reading →

It seems to me but a moment ago that we lit the first Advent candle to prepare for Jesus’ coming in a physical sense long ago, and again today in a spiritual sense. Then, it was Christmas and, after that, Epiphany with its stories about Jesus the Messiah in whom God was, and is, carrying out the divine mission set forth in the ancient words of Isaiah 61:  “to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners…”

I can hardly believe that now we are… Continue reading →

Today is the Last Sunday in Epiphany.  Epiphany, as we have said throughout, is the season of the church year when we follow the story of how Jesus was shown to be the Messiah, the Son of God, and the Saviour of the World.  The Last Sunday of Epiphany is traditionally called Transfiguration Sunday.  Next week we begin the Lenten Season, when we trace the steps of Jesus to the cross.

In my own mind, the Lessons for today present some obvious difficulties.  Both the Old Testament and the Gospel passages contain written accounts of clearly supernatural events:  the so-called… Continue reading →