I had two conversations this week that stayed with me long after they were finished. The first was with one of my sons, and the topic was the early retirement, at age 29, of NFL quarterback Andrew Luck. The second conversation was with one of my nephews, who is a rising junior in high school….
In the Gospel story for this coming Sunday, a lady whose disability has caused her to be bent over for 18 years, walks into the Synagogue and upon seeing her Jesus who was teaching calls her to come to Him. He lays His hands on her and she is healed. The leader of the synagogue was not happy because Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath….
Yesterday was the day in our church calendar when we remembered Mary, mother of Jesus. Is there any female figure in Christian history who has been on the receiving end of more transference than Mary? She has been appropriated institutionally and culturally in all sorts of ways; she has been remade in the image of values held by diverse—and sometimes contradictory—times and places. She is as idealized as she is beloved.
The comedian John Oliver addressed the recent mass shootings before his regular show aired Sunday night. He began like this: “When it comes to gun control, I know it can feel like everything’s been said before. In fact, even pointing out “everything’s been said before” has been said before. In fact, even pointing out the fact that “ ‘everything’s been said before’ has been said before” has been said before. But while the depressingly familiar numbness that you may be currently feeling can help you handle the pain in the short term, in the long term it can actually be a real problem because unless something hurts as much as it’s supposed to, nothing gets done about it.”….
Last week, in the Holy Apostles kitchen, Steve Turtell taught me how to make the bread we use in the Holy Eucharist at our 11 am service. It was a very hot day and I was a plebe in the process, but Steve was patient and kind and my first efforts produced a “good enough” product (still, if you experience the consecrated bread as being a bit dry over the next few weeks please forgive the inevitable learning curve!). The recipe is pretty straightforward, and once an experienced baker shares a few helpful techniques most anyone can create the bread we share in our worship together….
unday’s Gospel message is instantly recognizable as the Lord’s prayer, or one might say the disciple’s prayer as it was the disciples who asked Jesus “how to pray.” We must assume they already knew how to pray as they spent time in synagogues and temples. They also had been in the presence of Jesus for quite some time, witnessing first hand all the mighty works he had done, impressed by His wisdom, power and His love. So, if you think about it, they were basically, asking Him how they could pray, and get similar results themselves.
The Christian life is fueled by prayer. It is made stronger by our intimate relationship with God each day….
Even though I have lived in Manhattan a few times over the course of my life, I had never experienced a blackout here. Saturday night was a first for me; sudden darkness everywhere, low power on my phone battery, concern over the location of my sons and the constant, wailing sirens that persisted throughout the hours without electricity. The time in darkness jolted me into the awareness of what I consistently take for granted. The experience was unsettling….
Happy Summer! I am actually on vacation — I wrote this meditation last week before I left. I hope I’m having a fun and relaxing time! And I hope that you will get some time off as well this summer, even if it is just a long weekend or two….
A number of years ago, I remember reading an article in Sojourners Magazine written by a woman who had experienced a lifetime of struggle with her weight. She described all of it: the calorie counting, the cycling through every institutional dieting program available, the cardio and resistance workouts, her feelings of shame when she was not at her “ideal weight” and her fear that any good news (as she defined it) from the scale at her morning weigh-in would only be temporary….
If we only live once, we must live our life meaningfully. Can you imagine what your life could have been if you did not delay when the opportunity was given.
What if you studied before the exam?
What if you bought that stock before it went up?
For some what if they received Jesus as their Savior when they were younger?
We all have the tendency to postpone. There are those who stay up all night to finish a project at the last moment….