We hear the words of Isaiah in a season and place of worship. It is Advent--- the second candle in the Advent Wreath has been lit, and our worship space is garlanded with evergreens (please provide the distinctive Advent context of your own parish). Today, the prophet Isaiah’s words comingle with beloved Advent hymns and with the beauty of our Collect: “May no earthly undertaking hinder those who set out in haste to meet your Son.” For the faithful in Christ, Isaiah’s prophe

This week, we enter into a new liturgical season, with a new cycle of readings. When we look at these readings over the three-year span, it doesn’t take long to figure out that Advent readings are frequently odd, edgy, a little strange. Sometimes... even disturbing. If we are listening, these readings illuminate a season at odds with our view of Advent as something quiet, reflective, serene-- A tame and comfortable resting place in the run-up to Christmas. Today, for instance

This Sunday, the Solemnity of Christ the King, marks the last Sunday of the liturgical year.   It is the pivot to Advent-- a hinge that invites us to look forward to the final judgment of God when Christ returns to rule in justice. At the same time, this feast invites us to look back, and celebrate the life of Jesus, our Lord, who sits at the right hand of God.   The word, “King” carries a lot of weight, though— a lot of history,   a lot of… well,   baggage. Heavy baggage.  

It will lead to your giving testimony. "The day will come," Jesus warns, "when your temple will lie in ruins. The day will come when you will be powerless, terrified, betrayed. The day will come when you will be tempted by lies and handed over by friends because of my name." The day will come, Jesus says, when all that you have left is your testimony. Where I live and worship now, there isn't much of a market for "personal testimony," or Wednesday night altar calls, or any  a

High up on the shelf in my Sunday School classroom, there was a picture book about the life of Jesus. It had been written and illustrated long before I was born and its pages were fragile and yellow with age. The Jesus in that book—and the Jesus I met in most of the pictures I saw as a child, was a gentle man with a faraway smile.   Some pictures showed him sitting quietly with a sheep across his shoulders or a child upon his knee. Others showed him standing in a meadow, gazi

The Gospel Lesson we hear today is imbedded in the “Bread of Life” discourse of the 6 th Chapter of the Gospel of John. Jesus has already fed the 5,000 with the barley loaves and little fish and has come to the disciples as they huddled in their frail boat during the storm on the sea. The crowd continued to pursue Jesus and when they gather about him, he announces, “I am the bread of life.” Now comes a lengthy commentary on this claim. But as the Lord takes up this pronouncem

This is one of my prayer books. It is the volume of the Liturgy of the Hours for this season of the year. And priests and bishops are required to recite the psalms, scripture readings, and prayers from the Liturgy of the Hours five times each day. The promise to pray the Liturgy of the Hours is made at ordination and is a solemn obligation. We who preach promise to pray. But prayer is more than the movement of the eyes and the lips and the sound of the voice. Prayer involves

They had been cursed by God. Everyone knew that! They were visited by a plague that did not kill, but never seemed to end. Their families...

Jesus and the disciples continue their journey up to Jerusalem, and up to the Cross. Along the way, the Lord responds to their questions...