In the name of God Creator, Incarnate in Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Amen Maybe the really hard core fundamentalists who believe the end is really near have it right. Maybe the day of reckoning, the “final tribulations” as the Jehovah’s witnesses might say, are really upon us. What with the savagery which we…

In the name of God Creator, Incarnate in Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, Amen. Maybe the really hard core fundamentalists who believe the end is really near have it right. Maybe the day of reckoning, the “final tribulations” as the Jehovah’s witnesses might say, are really upon us. What with the savagery which we…

Life on this earth is filled with challenges. One challenge that we all are familiar with is that of learning how to accept that every aspect of life is a mixture of good and evil, of pure and impure. Take for example, the natural seasons of the earth — Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall — and…

By now, the gardens that people planted in the spring have begun to bear fruit. Into the wet, dark earth went the little seeds, some of them looking like what they would be when they grew, like the beans; others almost too small to see, like the lettuce seeds. A profound gesture of hope, the…

During the season after Pentecost, we focus on what it means to be a Christian. At Christmas we heard the Good News of Christ’s incarnation. The Easter acclamation – Alleluia! Christ is Risen! – is still ringing in our ears. At Pentecost we heard that we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to be…

Hear these comfortable words: From Isaiah –“Enter into the rockand hide in the dustFrom the terror of the Lord,and from the glory of his majesty.”“The haughtiness of people shall be humbled,and the pride of everyone shall be brought low,and the Lord alone will be exalted on that day” From Matthew –“Do not think that I…

Today’s lessons are not comforting. They run counter to the belief commonly held by many Christians that if you choose to live your life in accordance with God’s word, then everything will be alright. You will live in peace and quiet and that nothing bad will happen to you because you are being good. Today’s…

“Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. And these are the names of the twelve apostles…” Wait a minute! Something’s happening here, something important, but it goes by so fast you may not even have noticed it….

One of the hallmarks of modern society is a yearning after justice. Or at least we like to hope–or perhaps pretend–that it is. Justice is an ideal that stands over our political systems and it is the standard against which those systems are judged. We pray for justice: “I ask your prayers for peace; for…