Did you bring the Myrrh?
Detail of the Three Kings from The Adoration of the Magi, tapestry, wool and silk on cotton warp, 101 1/8 x 151 1/4 inches (300 x 384 cm.), Manchester Metropolitan University. Matthew 2:1-12 I hope the year is off to a good start for you personally. On a wider front, I am sure that like me you have watched the fires in Australia and the murder of Iranian general Soleimani with deep concern. I am grateful for the night-time prayer from…
Christmas 1
Photo by Sebastian Kanczok @unsplash.com
Come Thou Unexpected Jesus
Photo by Visit Greenland @ pexels.com Titus 2:11-14 Luke 2:1-14(15-20) I’ve been particularly enjoying the Christmas music this year. On Sunday, Ann Lucas our musician played an arrangement of the hymn “Come thou long-expected Jesus” and my friend Jill was interested to realize that this was the same melody that we use for another hymn. As she was chatting about it she kept saying, “Come thou Unexpected Jesus” and I kept correcting her – “No, no,” I said, “It’s come…
Love
Picture by Carlos Quintero, unsplash.com Matthew 1:18-25 Love. It’s the reason for the season. It’s the center of the Christian narrative. Not sin nor guilt nor judgment but incredible love. Creation has been described as the pillow-talk of the Trinity. We were conceived in love and created in love and we are nourished in love. Here are some of our central understandings: “For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten-son that all who believe in him…
Joy!
Photo by Delfino Barboza @Unsplash.com One of the ways that I know there is a long way ahead of me on the spiritual path is when I see holy men like the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu laugh. These are people who have experienced great suffering both personally and as part of an oppressed people. Yet they can laugh and laugh. It seems that joy is the mark of a child, and also of a spiritual master. It is…
Peace
Photo by Alice Donovan Rouse@unsplash.com Isaiah 11:1-10 Matthew 3:1-12 What does peace look like? When you imagine peace what does it look like or what does it feel like? Today’s reading from Isaiah gives us a lyrical if unlikely image of peace, The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze,…
Hope
Photo by Kelly Sikkema @ unsplash.com Isaiah 2:1-5 Romans 13:11-14 Matthew 24:36-44 I read in the news this morning the sad story of Ron, a man in Maine, who rigged a pistol in his front door so that anyone who tried to enter would be shot. Unfortunately, he made a mistake – I don’t know the details – but on Thanksgiving he walked into his own booby trap, was shot by the pistol and later died of his wounds. This…
Reconciled
Today we celebrate the Reign of Christ! This is the last Sunday of the Church’s year so today we remind ourselves that at the end of time everything will be brought into balance, the earth will be redeemed, Creation will sing for joy, the dead will be raised and we all get to live happily ever after! So it’s a bit jarring to hear the gospel reading from Luke where Jesus is hanging on the cross being mocked -this is…
Is Your God too Small?
Photo by Frances Gunn @unsplash.com Luke 20:27-38 Let’s begin with a riddle: Picture this scene: There was a car wreck. It was the fault of a man in a small car who darted out in front of a big car causing the big car to crash through a store window. The people in the small car were not hurt. In the big car there was one person injured and one person dead. A manslaughter charge was never filed against…