Philippians 1:3-11
Advent 2C
[…] There’s thanksgiving and joy, love and peace. It makes me think of Thanksgiving Day with a table sagging under the fruits of the harvest, or the annual Christmas feast with family gathered around the table in boisterous good cheer, or the Cornucopia filled with fruit and vegetables and grain on the Communion Table at […]
Isaiah 35:1-10
Advent 3A
[…] overtake” God’s people, he promises in verse 10b. “Sorrow and sighing will flee away.” At least some of us will experience some gladness and joy during the Christmas season. Our hearts will fill and our throats will tighten just a bit as we gather with some of our family members and friends to celebrate […]
Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26
Advent 4B
[…] Mary’s Magnificat is the recommended reading for today, but I think the alternate reading in Psalm 89 can provide some rich homiletical fruit for this day before Christmas. Both Luke 1:46-55 and Psalm 89 are songs of reversal. Mary sings of God bringing down rulers from their thrones and lifting up the humble, filling […]
Romans 16:25-27
Advent 4B
[…] Paul saying “Goodbye” to a lot of people who came to faith because of Mary’s son, Jesus. Maybe taken together these passages remind us that Advent and Christmas are never just about generic humanity. It’s always personal. It was for Mary. It was for Paul when he wrote his letters. Indeed, if ever you […]
Hebrews 5:1-10
Lent 5B
[…] brush aside our suffering and by entering into it, he saved us in a most compelling and loving way. It seems that one December afternoon just before Christmas vacation was to begin a group of parents stood in the lobby of a preschool, waiting to claim their children. When the bell rang, the youngsters […]
Romans 8:12-17
Trinity Sunday B
[…] had to guess, I’d imagine that “Trinity Sunday” may be the most under-celebrated day on the liturgical calendar. It goes without saying that it cannot compete with Christmas or Easter. Even Ascension Day and Pentecost have a hard time generating anywhere near the liturgical wattage of those two big celebrations. Epiphany might get a […]
Luke 3:1-6
Advent 2C
[…] those places may be and then go there. Because that is where you will find life, and life abundant at that. Please Note: Year C Advent and Christmas 2018 Resources are available on CEP. Textual Points The Synoptic gospels all do the same thing with Isaiah 40:3: namely, they take the line “in the […]
Luke 18:9-14
Proper 25C
[…] of being bright to begin with, however! Or, in another Lewis analogy, suppose a six-year-old little girl says, “Daddy, may I have $5 to buy you a Christmas present?” Well, any decent father will give the child the money and, come Christmas morning, will exclaim loudly and gleefully over whatever bauble the child bought. […]
James 5:7-10
Advent 3A
[…] visits from family members and friends who live at a distance from us. A few of us may even feel impatient to be done with this whole Christmas business so that we can return to some kind of normalcy. Of course, it can be difficult to stay patient in this or any season. Ask […]
John 14:15-21
Easter 6A
[…] scene as looking less like a lecture hall with attentive students taking notes on what the wise professor was saying from the lectern and more like a Christmas Eve dinner party that had started out fine but that exploded into something quite different when suddenly Dad used the occasion to inform his children that […]
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