On September 13, 1993, Yitzhak Rabin and Yassar Arafat shook hands after signing the Oslo Accord, a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians. When Yitzhak Rabin was bitterly criticized for shaking Yassar Arafat’s hand, his response was that you don’t make peace with your friends, but rather with your enemies.
You don’t get out from under debt until you’ve paid the last penny, so why bother? The debts are too big. Paying off debt can be a purgatory, even when the end is in sight. It takes forever and you could still lose everything if you miss a payment.
I was quite familiar with the story of Jonah and Nineveh, having encountered it in Sunday School, and even acted it out on a “muppet tour” with the Baptist youth group in the church in which I was raised.
The whole point of our being baptized, for going to church, for being Christian, is to go and do. We often get bogged down in the choices, frozen by our indecision. What does God want me to be involved with?
What is a symbol? It might be defined as one thing that stands in for another thing; something that represents something else that is not inherent in it. We are surrounded by symbols; we move through the world guided by symbols. They help us organize our lives; they aid us in our ability to …
There are three services on March 6, 2019 with Ash Wednesday liturgy at 8:00 a.m., noon. and 7:00 p.m. with full choir. Ashes will be imposed at the front gate of the church on Fifth Avenue at 10th Street from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Capital-F “Faith” was always a challenging concept for my long-agnostic mind. I understood it as a blind trust in a wise, bearded fellow in the sky, the puppeteer of all things. I interpreted faith as requiring a belief that God has a blueprint for each of our lives and we must trot merrily along the dotted line…
Today’s readings enrich and resonate with one another. Isaiah starts by pointing out that his people are committing righteous acts in order to be noticed, validated, and consecrated.
“Why have we fasted,” they say, “and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?”
— Isaiah 58:3
Yet, God tells the people…
The Old Testament readings seem to set up a clear dichotomy between “the righteous” and “the wicked.” Those who obey the commandments will live, and those who do not will perish. It’s enough to make anyone squirm. We all know that we have not obeyed.
Here we are in Lent, when we are told, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Flowers come off the altar, and the green vestments, green as grass and leaves, are put away. Yet I am thinking about gardens. Isaiah promises that…