• What’s In a Name?

    a Homily for Proper 25B Text: Mark 10:46-52 A Healing Story Jesus heals people. At this point this seems like old news. Remember several chapters ago when Jesus healed the man of leprosy? Jesus urges the man to tell no one and instead, the blabbermouth runs into town and tells everybody about Jesus. It seems so…

  • Blind Beggers (Eating Scripture)

    Eating Mark 10: 46-52 For the last three chapters, Jesus has been taking us to Jerusalem, preparing us for what is to come. And this is the last stop; Jericho. Here he meets a blind man and we learn the last piece of the discipleship arc. All from a story we normally mistake for just another…

  • No Apologies: the Danger of Bravado

    No Apologies: the Danger of Bravado

    Despite the fact that there was little substantive division between the two candidates allowed into last night’s debate, we might make the false assumption that the only difference was actually cosmetic. That and Governor Romney’s continued radical change in policy from week to week, embracing the very things he condemned in last week’s debate. But…

  • A Holy Spirit Sighting

    A Holy Spirit Sighting

    Driving home from Convention this year, I had the blessing of talking over the experience with one of our delegates. We both talked about our own responses to the many parts and our past experiences. It probably wasn’t equal though. Poor Michelle learned how chatty I get in the car when I’m driving! This morning,…

  • The Sound of Generosity

    a Homily for Proper 24B Text: Mark 10:35-45 The Overwhelming Sound of Voices There are times when I hear too many voices. My son is chattering about something, my wife is trying to actually tell me about tomorrow’s plans, and my daughter is getting louder and hoping that I hear her above all the cacophony and…

  • The Thunder Blunder (Eating Scripture)

    Eating Mark 10: 35-45 This whole arc in Mark has been about discipleship; about following Jesus where He is going. Which is Jerusalem and death. And then resurrection. After Jesus foretells His death for the third time, we have this third epic fail. And it is a doozy. Unfortunately for us, even though we recognize half…

  • time to ditch the old church language

    One need not pray in another person’s language  The language of the King James Bible and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer is not ours, it is theirs. It doesn’t define church for me; it defines 17th Century English church. And it is alien to the 21st Century North American church. I have a devoted Rite…

  • Getting Good with GOD

    a Homily for Proper 23B Text: Mark 10:17-31 Jesus and Money Following Jesus is hard. He told the disciples so when He recruited them. He told them that they would have to leave their families and their homes and their work and they went along with it. When He showed them what it would be…