[RCL] 1 Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41 This morning’s gospel reading is full of confusion. We have the event itself – Jesus spitting into dirt to make mud, and smearing it all over a blind man’s face. But after that, we have a veritable pandemonium – no one can seem to figure…

[RCL]: 1 Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41 That long reading from John about the man born blind is always very current. We only need to look at the news, or around town, or in our own lives, to ask the disciples’ question: “Who sinned” and thus caused this to happen? Today, let’s…

The gospels need to be approached as a sort of unfolding – the unfolding of who Jesus is and what that can mean about who we are called to be. So perhaps it helps to think of a time-lapse video of a flower opening, one petal at a time until the entire flower is open…

Lent draws the faithful – sometimes kicking and screaming – to a period of spiritual preparation and renewal in anticipation of the coming jubilance of Eastertide. Throughout the history of the church, candidates for Holy Baptism would often engage in rigorous study, prayer and fasting during Lent. It was also the time when those who…

In many cultures of the world, the first day of April is kept as April Fools’ Day, a day for shenanigans, generalized tomfoolery, and practical jokes played on unsuspecting family members, friends, and co-workers. Most of us have been at one time or another the butt of someone’s silly pranks on this day, perhaps even…

Eddie was the extrovert in the community for the disabled in the assisted living unit. He always plunked himself down right in the middle of where the action was – in a chair by the mailboxes, at the entrance to the dining room, or right in front of the TV in the sitting room. He…

“Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.” — 1 Samuel 16:12 Remember that survey course of English literature you took back in high school or college? You probably used a textbook that was, in essence, a collection or anthology of literary classics representing the wisdom of many centuries and cultures. It was a…

Monuments attract outcasts. This is as true today as it was in our Lord’s time. Walk outside the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul, a.k.a. the National Cathedral, in Washington, D.C., and you will find today’s outcasts, the homeless. If you had walked outside the Temple in Jerusalem, mentioned in today’s Gospel, you would have…