July 31, 2022 - The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

O Lord, help us to know that our lives are safe in you ✠ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            We’ve all heard the phrase “you are what you eat.” And there’s a lot of truth to that idea – what we consume makes us who we are. This is true not only of foods but any sort of content that we take it.  If we listen to a lot of partisan news, we shouldn’t be surprised to find ourselves with stronger than average political opinions. If we read a lot of poetry, our speech might be a bit more lyrical. Studies have shown that children who watch violence in cartoons are then more violent in their interactions with others. We become what we consume.

July 24, 2022 - The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

Lord, let us be so bold as to pray as you have taught us ☩ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            If there has ever been a set of words spoken more often than the Lord’s Prayer, I’d be surprised. For 2,000 years, Christians have been praying these words, often multiple times a day. And there’s a deep beauty to this – these words are prayed at weddings, gravesides, battlefields, hospital rooms, chapels, and living rooms. I have prayed these words with people as they died, I have prayed with people who know these words even when, because of dementia, they do not know who they are, I have prayed these words with children as they are just learning about the wonderful and amazing grace of God. This is the richness of such a familiar prayer. The other side of familiarity though is that, because we know this prayer so well, we can say these words while on auto-pilot. So it is always good when we have a chance to reflect on and rejoice in these words that our Savior Christ has taught us.

July 17, 2022 - The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

O God, help us to focus on the one thing that we have need of ☩ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            A quick Google search will tell you that “time management” is in high demand. We can watch videos, attend seminars, and read books that all promise to teach us how to better manage our time so that we can be more successful, or whatever the supposed goal of having our time better managed is. We give school children and young adults all sorts of lessons about how to best structure the day to maximize productivity and minimize stress. Judging by the overall feel of our culture right now, I’m not so sure it’s working. We’re just more stressed about how productive we are, or are not. Now, to be clear, I say all of this as probably the most neurotically organized person here, so it’s not that I don’t value time management, it’s just I’m not convinced when we hear Jesus say that “There is need of only one thing” that he is referring to productivity, success, or returns on investments.

July 3, 2022 - Proper 9C

Lectionary readings

In the name of the God who is love ☩ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            It’s all about love. It really is. If we could all know just how deeply we are loved, remember this love as the core of our identity, and recognize that participating in and sharing this love is the only the worth doing then we would come and see the abundant life that Jesus intends for us. A life well lived is a life lived in the way of love. This is what today’s Collect and Scripture passages are pointing us towards.