Scripture: Matthew 21:23-32 It’s the third of July. Bonfires blaze around Conesus Lake as everyone celebrates the holiday. Fireworks boom in the sky, their light crackling into cascading chandeliers. As I stand on the dock, water laps beneath me. A bonfire on the other side of lake catches my eye as it does every year. […]
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Readings: Poem written by Hafiz The small man Builds cages for everyone He knows. While the sage, Who has to duck his head When the moon is low, Keeps dropping keys all night long For the Beautiful Rowdy Prisoners. Matthew 18: 21 – 35 Peter came up and asked Jesus, “When a sibling wrongs […]
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Scripture: Matthew 18:15-20 Toilet paper. The man walked around with a sad piece of toilet paper tagging behind his shoe. As it dragged, a stranger turned and said, “If I had toilet paper on my shoe, I would want someone to tell me.” One of my mentors told me that story of their real-life experience. […]
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Scriptures: Exodus 3:1-15, Matthew 16:21-27 In the article, “Nothing to Say”, written in 1854, philosopher Henry David Thoreau comments on new technology. Thoreau writes, “Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end which it was already too easy to […]
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Scripture: Matthew 16:13-20 I have been thinking about how to describe the pandemic. If the pandemic had a color, what color would it be? “Crayon melt color,” my friend, Carolyn Frantz, replied thoughtfully. She and I had just finished discussing what a weird time quarantine is. It’s a time when you can glimpse […]
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Scriptures: James 3:16 and Matthew 15:21-28 Thin, white candles flicker in our hands, each lit by the person next to us. A sea of light spreads through the dark room. That Saturday, my candle accompanies me as I sit cross-legged on the floor, and listen to the story of Mary of Magdala. Mary of Magdala […]
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John 20:1-18 Mary of Magdala’s love is deep. Just like her grief. That is why I am so surprised that when Mary finally sees Jesus; she does not recognize Jesus. Literally the text says, “She turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.” Why do you think […]
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John 10:1-18 There is something about this Easter, that feels closer to the actual Easter, when Mary of Magdala, stepped out of her residence to walk to the tomb, to grieve her teacher, Jesus. That day, she did not know what would happen; nothing was guaranteed to her. She walked that inky pre-dawn hour to […]
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John 1:29-42 “The only thing is love; Everything else is advertising.” That is a benediction said each week at a church in Cape Cod. I have been pondering its meaning this week: “The only thing is love; Everything else is advertising.” It seems an apt quote in light of the Scripture this week, where Jesus […]
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Matthew 3:13-17 Before I begin, I want to share with you the poem “Last Fragment” by Raymond Carver, “And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so? I did. And what did you want? To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth.” Whoa. To feel myself beloved. Isn’t that […]
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