Each of today’s readings encourages us to look at the unexamined and repressed. Pharaoh’s dream mystified him because flourishing and withering crops were equally vivid. The Pharisees’ disciplined themselves to worship righteously on the Sabbath and were blind to the need to heal. Paul refused to judge himself good and his neighbor failing because only God could see the whole, the light and the
Ascension’s Social Concerns and Action Committee will be meeting next Sunday at 12:30 in the front meeting room of the rectory. The meeting is open to all who are interested in attending. House Eucharists – Be sure to sign up for one of the House Eucharists that will be held during Lent. The sign-up sheets are on the bulletin board in the Parish hall.
She was no angel. At 82 she was still beautiful, with elegant hands and a perfect profile. But she was no angel. Her sense of humor could be raunchy and cruel. She pulled people’s strings like a virtuoso. But she loved her children. And she loved her grandchildren. God, not so much. We spoke about God. I shared my faith. She shared her life
I will confine my comments to the Psalms. Although the psalmist refers to God as a “refuge” in Psalm 46, he most often emphasizes God’s strength and force: “my rock and my redeemer” (19); “He makes wars cease” (46); “God the Lord speaks and summons the earth . . .” (50); “. . . for you, O God, are my fortress.” (59); “. .
Today’s reading in Genesis describes Joseph’s brothers’ jealousy of their father’s love for him, and fear of his abilities to interpret his dreams. They sell him to traders and allow their father to believe he has been killed by wild beasts, rather than see Joseph’s spiritual gifts as a way for them to grow in wisdom. Psalm 119 speaks of God’s statutes providing comfort
Old Testament: Joseph’s brothers conspired to kill him, but because of Reuben’s intervention they only stripped him of his robe and threw him into a pit with no water. Gospel: John gets arrested and Jesus walks away? That’s how the passage reads to me. Instead of going to visit John in jail, Jesus goes off to gather new followers. He then travels to Capernaum,
People often think about the season of Lent as a rather grim, dark time. After all, it usually falls in the dull, cold, gray days of late winter and is noted as a time of abstinence and fasting – of “giving something up.” But actually the name Lent comes from the same root word as “length” and it refers to the fact that at
Today’s gospel reading is very familiar; John preparing the way for Jesus and then baptizing him in the River Jordan. While a reading we more often associate with Advent, a time of preparation for Jesus’ birth, Lent is actually a perfect time to reflect on what Mark is telling us here. What does it truly mean to “prepare the way” for Jesus to come?
The following is one of the many lessons to be taken away from the Gospel of John. Here Jesus is praying to the Lord Father for his disciples, in doing so He teaches us, as believers, how to pray for each other. In this Jesus specifically says He is “not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are
In a world where things are often seen as black or white, we are often confronted with gray areas, predicament with a blurry line between right and wrong. In studying today’s readings, I’ve taken away one overall theme: to be present in and aware of our thoughts, actions, and interactions. We must be responsible for how we live our life. The Psalms contrast complaint