Wisdom raises her voice. At intersections and entrances, she proclaims to the people: “Before the earth, I was. Before the springs and mountains, I was. Before the skies and seas, I was. I have always been the Inspiration and the Delight.” (Proverbs 8:1-4 & 22-31, Revised Rachel Version) In the Revised Common Lectionary readings for… Read More
Revised Common Lectionary: Holy Translator
The Holy Spirit is an amorphous being. One who is compared to wind and fire. The one who comes down with the waters of baptism onto us, earthly, dirt-made humans. Through the Holy Spirit we have furthered our understanding of who God is to us. The Holy Spirit is an “advocate” the “Spirit of Truth”… Read More
Revised Common Lectionary: PS Love one another
Jesus gets to say his goodbyes twice. No doubt when Jesus ascends back to heaven, the disciples go back to what he said during his “last” supper, and here we are, chronologically confused, but in the appropriate spirit of goodbye in John 17:20-26. This is the last instructions of someone who is no longer with… Read More
Revised Common Lectionary: Purple (but not Lent)
My childhood church had a tradition of the youth performing a musical each year on Mother’s Day. One year, our choir director chose a musical named Paul & Co. by John Horman and Mary Nelson Keithahn. To this day, a song from this musical goes through my head whenever I hear the Lydia story: A seller… Read More
Revised Common Lectionary: Egos in the Way
Praise the LORD! Praise the Sovereign from the heavens! Praise the Great One, all angels and celestial beings! Praise the Eternal Light, you sun and moon and stars! (Psalm 148) Can you imagine being the sun — 1,391,000 km in diameter, more than 4,500,000,000 years old, the center of the solar system, the hope of… Read More
RCL: From Death to Life
This was originally posted at Write Out of Left Field Those little purple faces poking up next to the sidewalk on my way out of church on Sunday were nearly my undoing. Not exactly the color purple in a field, but I noticed. I saw them innocently reaching for the sun, the first of spring… Read More
RCL: Must be Thomas
It’s the first Sunday after Easter, so it must be time for Thomas. Of course, there are other options if Thomas doesn’t have appeal for you. There’s Peter defending his right, and the rights of the other apostles to preach Jesus. There are the Psalms full of praise and thanksgiving. There’s the Alpha and Omega… Read More
Revised Common Lectionary: I have seen the Lord!
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! But not quite yet. For church professionals, we first have to endure the hard and holy week leading up to Easter. We live out the mental, emotional, and spiritual drama in real time. On Maundy Thursday, we may wash feet or share Communion, or both (hopefully with some… Read More
Revised Common Lectionary: Palms
There it is: Holy Week. At long last, after the fullness of the Lenten season — the extra workload in your faith community, the extra discipline in your spiritual life, the extra chocolate to counter the stress of the extra workload — now at last Holy Week is in sight. Now at last, the emotional… Read More
RCL: Perfume and Poor
Only human beings can take a text like “the poor will always be with you” and turn it into a hammer text. The first time I heard that some people thought that John 12:1-8 was about Jesus commanding us to keep people poor in this text, my jaw dropped. Not only does this turn something… Read More
