We sing “I am the Bread of Life” and forget the power and shock behind these words. We worship a crucified God, and we “gnaw” on God’s flesh so that we can live. Jesus calls himself the Son of Man, the Mortal One, in other words, the one who will die. His death (and resurrection) isn’t the same as Lazarus’ whom Jesus raises later in the Gospel. Jesus’ resurrection (by the divine force willingly dying […]
The Gospel reading for this week picks up right where last week’s left off. Having fed the multitude in the wilderness, Jesus performs another sign that testifies to his true identity by walking across the lake to the other side, where the following day, the people chasing after him find him. In this week’s reading, he begins to teach on the deeper meaning of the sign of the feeding, who he is, and the deeper […]
There is only one miracle that appears in all four Gospels – the feeding of the multitude in the wilderness. It appears in two different versions in the first two Gospels, so you could say this miracle appears six times in all. Nothing else Jesus does features as prominently. It’s reasonable to assume that this was very important to the early followers of the Way. We tend to imagine that in a time of military […]
As a bishop, most times when I visit with a congregation, we quickly start to talk about the challenges the congregation is facing. Those challenges start with not having enough money to do the things we want to do. Many of the challenges being managed have to do with the building in which the community gathers. Some of the concerns are about the lack of people, or the lack of a certain group of people […]
This week’s Gospel tells of the events surrounding the execution of John the Baptist, whom Jesus describes as the greatest of the prophets, by order of King Herod. Herod makes this decision as a result of a rash promise promise to Salome, daughter of Herodias, his wife, during a banquet celebrating his birthday. Herod doesn’t actually want to kill John the Baptist, but he’s more afraid of losing face in front of his party guests […]
This weekend’s Gospel, appointed for the same day that people in the USA are observing Independence Day, recounts an unusual event in Jesus’ life – when he is amazed at people rather than them being amazed by him. The beginning of the reading tells of how Jesus’ childhood friends and neighbors couldn’t imagine that he was anything more than the child who had grown up beside them. And when he performed miracles and taught with […]
Faith is the last resort when everything else has failed. It’s the absurd hope that insists on believing in the possibility of a way forward even when there is no hope. Our small faith, nurtured into a larger life, gives life even as we and the ones we love are passing away. I don’t understand it – somedays I find it pretty thin gruel. But it’s what we have, and it has been enough to […]
This weekend as we observe Juneteenth as a federal holiday for the first time in American history, and celebrate the month long observance of Pride, we have a Gospel reading about the storms on the Sea of Galilee. Tertullian first noted that these storms arose as the disciples were crossing to Gentile lands, under the control of the Roman Empire. He remarked that the Church in those days experienced conflict and persecution as it sought […]
One of the basic teachings of Christianity is that it is Jesus who saves us from the consequences of our misbehavior, from our sins. We can not, and do not save ourselves. That’s both deeply freeing and very hard to internalize. Even though I know it I still act as if I don’t really believe it – and believe that if I just work hard enough, I can manage my salvation. There’s a similar thing […]
This Sunday’s Gospel begins with people trying to understand how Jesus is able to cast out the spiritual powers that have rebelled against God. People try to understand what is happening in earthly terms, in light of their experience in a created order that has gone sideways from God’s original plan. And when they do that, they fundamentally miss the point of what is happening. The key to understanding this parable (as Jesus describes it) […]
