RCL Reflection for Holy Trinity Sunday, Year B, May 30, 2021
Our job as leaders, teachers, and preachers is to show the wondrous love of God beyond all knowing, trusting that the Divine One in Three and Three in One will indeed capture the hearts, minds, and lives of all who come to know the unknowable. Why would we settle for anything less?
An open letter to the North American Church
Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost Sunday, Year B, May 23, 2021
This weekend we once again read the story of Ezekiel prophesying to the dry bones of Israel (and to us today) and the story of the first church at Pentecost. It’s up to each one of us to decide: Can we leave our petty differences at the door and welcome all people to Christ’s table of love and grace? Can we shed the skin of Christian nationalism to become the Church of that first Pentecost? Will we do whatever it takes to ignite the fire in our bellies that will lead to renewal and revival?
The vast intimacy of Jesus’ prayer for us
RCL Reflection for the Seventh Sunday of Easter Year B, May 16, 2021
Jesus’ prayer doesn’t seek to take us out of the world in some pie-in-the-sky version of rapture. It places us squarely here in the midst of the created order, and it lets us know that the Christ is right there with us—along with God the Creator and Author of all that is.
A new song
RCL Reflection, Sixth Sunday of Easter Year B, May 9, 2021
We must remember that all the earth belongs to God—every atom, molecule, droplet of water, and handful of soil—and as such is sacred. This week’s psalm helps us do just that, as well as illumine the other lessons. (Image: Lyre, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Abide + Love = Good Change
RCL Reflection for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B, May 2, 2021
From these three lessons we learn that abiding in Christ helps us learn to love, and that teaching helps us enact good change—in the church, in our own lives, and in the world. Let’s look at it as a formula for faith: Abide + Love = Good Change. If we give the Holy Spirit a little wiggle room in our lives, we just might be amazed.
A psalm for all creation
RCL Reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Easter Year B, April 25, 2021
Why the 23rd Psalm for Creation Sunday? Why not look at Genesis or any other number of potential lessons? The easy answer is “why not”? It’s what the lectionary gives us for this Sunday, and the Holy Spirit does tend to provide a way forward. The key to using this psalm to celebrate Creation Sunday is to invite people to explore it afresh.
The power of witness
RCL Reflection for the Third Sunday of Easter, Year B, April 18, 2021
Just what does it mean to bear witness in a world in which so much runs counter to the teachings of Jesus? Each of this week’s lessons provides its own unique entry point for preaching and teaching. Our job as hearers of the word is to open our hearts and minds, or better yet to allow the Christ to open our hearts and minds to myriad possibilities.
Believing is more than seeing
RCL Reflection Second Sunday of Easter Year B, April 11, 2021Thankfully, for us today, believing is much more than seeing. We did not personally witness the events of Holy Week, nor were we present at the empty tomb or at any of Jesus’ post-resurrection encounters. Yes, believing is about more than seeing.
Holy disorder and an empty tomb
RCL Reflection for the Resurrection of the Lord, Year B, April 4, 2021
Easter, with all of its uncertainty, terror, and amazement, once again invites us to go into the world proclaiming the good news for all people. Easter invites us to go deeper and risk disorder so that we may emerge with Christ followers across the ages into a reorder that is all about healing the world and accepting our status as beloved children of God.
Deserters?
RCL Reflection for Palm/Passion Sunday Year B, March 28, 2021
Jesus predicted that all of his closest disciples would desert him when confronted with the humiliation and reality of his violent death. And they did, even Peter who protested greatly. We, too, desert Jesus when we fail to both see our own violent legacy and to work to for change and the good of all people. (Image: John August Swanson, “Entry into the City,” Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
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