Proper 7 (12) (June 24, 2018) Alternate First reading and Psalm Job 38:1-11 Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32 Second reading 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 Gospel Mark 4:35-41 4:39 He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. … 41 And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the […]
A short homily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter (April 22, 2018) Acts 4:5-12 Psalm 23 1 John 3:16-24 John 10:11-18 Word and Speech; Truth and Action. What has been done “in the name of Jesus”? In Scripture, the blind are made to see and the lame to walk. Sins are forgiven in the name of Jesus. Indeed, Peter says that “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven […]
This year I have been thinking a lot about the fact that the Church should be a place of healing. That means that, if a Christian community is doing their job right, there ought to be a lot of hurting people in it, needing healing, comfort, and love. If we are honest with ourselves, we are all represented in that community, at least at some point or another. So the question that occurs to me […]
I don’t need Lent. I don’t need to be reminded of my mortality. I don’t need to be reminded of the sinful and wicked workings of this world. I don’t need to be reminded that I am a sinner. I don’t need to be reminded that I am ashes and to ashes I shall return. I know I will die. I know this world is full of wickedness and death, suffering and pain. I know […]
After tragedy has occurred to us, fallen upon us, how do we walk on, lacing up those painful shoes I talked about in my poor analogy? How do we carry on, day after day? We must begin by being open to and accepting the grace that is offered to us. I consider what happed to the Man and the Woman after they had chosen to forge their own path, a path that led away from God […]
In mid-February 2017 we had a funeral for a beloved member of the parish. He had lived a long, full life and his family surrounded him at his departing and gathered for the service. The first reading was this beautiful passage from The Book of Wisdom (in the Apocrypha). Wis. 3:1 But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them. 2 In the eyes of the foolish they seemed […]
Yesterday’s epistle (in the RCL) was Philippians 4:1-9. The preacher at Good Shepherd, Lexington was the Rev. Canon Elise Johnstone. Good Shepherd is beginning a time of transition as their rector, Brian Cole, was called to be the Bishop of Eastern Tennessee. The Canon preached on this passage from Philippians and began her sermon in a curious way, talking about watching movies on the Disney Channel in the 1980s. She said she particularly liked Pollyanna, […]
Yesterday I was reading the morning office and Ps. 118:22, one of the most familiar passages in the psalms to Christians, struck me differently. 17I shall not die, but live, * and declare the works of the LORD. 18The LORD has punished me sorely, * but he did not hand me over to death. 19Open for me the gates of righteousness; * I will enter them; I will offer thanks to the LORD. 20“This is […]
One year ago I started what would be a 9 month call to be the interim rector at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Nashville, TN. This was my first service with them, one year ago, and oddly enough it was the only time in the three-year cycle of the Revised Common Lectionary that a significant portion of Lamentations was assigned for a Sunday service. The text here is somewhat abbreviated. You can listen to my […]
This past summer I wrote a series of devotions that were published on the Emerging Scholars Network blog1. Over the course of this week I will published them here on Targuman. I encourage you to take a look at ESN and consider supporting and contributing yourself. We will be holding a meet-up at this SBL this November, if you are there I hope you can join us! Quote “Das Denken ist auch Gottesdienst.” Reflection Sometime in […]
