“Take, eat, this is my body.” We all are quite familiar with Mark 14:22-25. It has been a part of every communion we have ever participated in. Throughout my life it has touched me in different ways. As a child it was a time to behave. My church passed the plate and if I spilled the tray with little glasses of grape juice I
The Serenity Prayer God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting
Occasionally, I will be on the subway when a street preacher will come on board, usually around rush hour, when everyone is packed tightly together. The person will start speaking very loudly and you can follow everyone as their heads turn to look. And just as quickly, you can sense a quiet but very real collective groan when they realize what is going on.
It’s the morning after Palm Sunday, The Hosannas have died away, and Jesus is in a really bad mood. Who can blame him, because he knows the week is going to end badly. So here we have him apparently taking out his frustrations on this poor fig tree. At first glance, the message he seems to want us to take away from the crumpled
Today’s readings remind us that we are servants of God and stewards of God’s mysteries. God is our rock and our fortress. There is no compromising or bargaining with God. Consider Exodus and the story of all the plagues, in this case the locust. There is God’s plan and following his word we are led to redemption. Sometimes miraculously. We all have our troubles,
I am overcome by the sudden visceral awareness that just as I am rereading Psalm 22 today, Jesus had read Psalm 22 many times during his lifetime. He quoted this exact poem, a piece of writing that was already perhaps a thousand years old, to express his terror and what I can’t help but call his humanity in the face of death. In Mark’s
“Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your faithful shout for joy.” Psalm 132:9 As we enter into the later part of Lent, the readings for the day give us several extreme and demanding tales. We hear of the plagues of frogs and gnats sent to Pharaoh and Egypt, both simply hardening Pharaoh’s heart. St. Paul expounds on the greater glory of
“I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Mark 10:15) These often quoted words of Jesus have a refreshing new meaning for me. You see, I have become a godparent for the first time, not once but twice, in the past few months. I could not be more proud and
Of all the bizarre stories in the Bible, and there are many, surely the story of Moses and the Exodus must rank as High Strangeness. The twists and turns of the plot are so baffling that it seems almost impossible for the common reader to ferret out what actually is going on. And who was Moses anyway? A murderer, a stutterer and a sorcerer
The theme I find in today’s readings is all about speaking. In Exodus, Moses pleads to God: I am slow of speech and tongue. Send someone else. But the Lord tells him: I will be with your mouth and what you shall speak. In Psalm 31 the David speaks to God and asks that He lead, rescue and guide him. In Corinthians, chapter 14, Paul, who has