Entangled States

We hear St. John the Evangelist’s account of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist today. Last week we heard St. Matthew’s version. The accounts are similar, but not identical. That’s not surprising for a number reasons; different eyewitnesses, different authors and different purposes in telling the story for instance. But what is striking in this account is what happens the next day. Andrew hears something that St. John says of Jesus, perhaps in passing. But […]

Many, maybe even most churches will be observing this New Year’s Day by reading and singing Lessons and Carols. But there are probably a few out there who will be keeping the calendar’s Feast of the Holy Name, the eighth day after Christmas, when we mark that Jesus was circumcised according to the custom of his people. Jesus is Jewish, something that I’ve been surprised is not understood by more people. And that’s something that, […]

We talk in prayer and poetry of the night of Christ’s birth being filled with light. But it is was night, so what does that mean? Light was created first – and on the first day. But the Sun and the Moon, the great lights in the sky, were created on the fourth day. How could there be light for Earth without the Sun and the Moon? The ancient writers believe that the light of […]

As Christmas approaches and Advent comes to a close, we finally hear a story from the Gospel that is directly connected with the birth of Jesus. This year we hear the story of Matthew’s experience of the miraculous events surrounding Jesus conception and his birth. While I was certainly familiar with the story, this year, as I studied and prayed, I noticed something I hadn’t previously though. In a way that is different than the […]

We’ve come to Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent, the one where we light the pink candle on our Advent wreath. All the lessons we read this week are about the coming transformation of Creation, and of ourselves. We read of the vision of the new Creation in the first lesson, we are exhorted to be patient in the second and we are told the signs of its coming in the third this week. […]

This week’s reading from the Prophet Isaiah is a song about a new World. It’s a world of peace and harmony. It’s a world that the prophet tells us, God is going to bring into existence. It a world that you and I have heard of and, I expect, long for. What’s striking to me though is the context and the timing in which this song of promise is sung. It’s born in a moment […]

When we say Jesus is Lord, or that Christ is the King, we’re making a deep theological claim. Essentially, we’re rejecting all the secular structures of the World, and because of how Jesus comes to his Lordship, saying that the existing structures are fundamentally flawed and unjust. But Christ’s Kingship isn’t just about a sustained critique of other’s leadership or use of power. St. Paul sees the Holy Spirit working even now in the World […]

We are nearly to the end of the liturgical year. The whole of the Church Calendar is meant to be a tool for teaching about the Christian life and faith. We start the year in Advent though, not Christmas, the officially Advent is supposed to be about the triumphant return of Lord Jesus and our longing and our hoping that day will come quickly. In Christmas we remember the story of Jesus’ first coming and […]