Church Pulpit Posts

This weekend brings us to the fifth Sunday in Lent, and closer to our walk with Jesus toward his suffering and death during Holy Week. It can feel like an intense time, especially when local and national and world events continually remind us of the suffering around us as well. And each of us in our own lives may be dealing with challenges, pain, and grief….

We are deep in the heart of Lent, and while this Sunday is often referred to as “refreshment Sunday,” there is still a way to go before Easter arrives. Even with the Sunday “Little Easter” reprieves from Lent, and even with the hopeful signs of longer days and warmer temperatures, the time between Ash Wednesday and our celebration of the Resurrection is long, long, long….

I just finished reading Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey. While I have heard that, among purists, this translation is controversial, for me the colloquialisms and interjection of modern idiom made it really engaging and fun to read. Just as interesting as the text itself is Wilson’s introduction, which includes lots of supplemental information and interpretive re-imagining….

The author Octavia Butler just keeps surfacing. Reading her dystopian novel Parable of the Sower in our Holy Apostles summer book group a couple of years ago must have raised our collective awareness of Butler and her work, because ever since then it seems like she is everywhere. In lectures. Pop culture references. Think pieces. An opera at Lincoln Center last summer. And then, just last week, someone forwarded the link to a webinar where panelists were to discuss her prescient understanding of the climate chaos we are experiencing today….

Jesus always took time to pray. He wanted to hear His Father’s voice, in solitude and peace. He looked for and cherished that quietness. A time, when He could clear His mind and be strengthened by God’s voice, giving Him direction and courage. A time when He could withdraw from the cares and clamor of the world….

I was speaking with a friend recently who is getting set to retire. When I asked this person what they were going to miss most, they responded, “Well, I’ll tell you what I won’t miss: meetings! If I never have to attend another meeting again, it will be too soon!!” I think most of us have shared this feeling at one time or another. Even with the conveniences of gathering via Zoom, it’s easy to think of meetings—any meetings!—as events to be endured….

This past Thursday, January 18th, was the feast day marking the Confession of Saint Peter the Apostle. On that day, we remembered the gospel story (Matthew 16:13-19) of Peter proclaiming the identity of Jesus, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replies, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church…” The gospels portray Peter as an ordinary guy, a fisherman, who didn’t have any special theological training. He was likely illiterate. But his connection to God was such that he could see Jesus clearly through a divine gaze, seeing the Christ, the anointed Messiah, the Son of the living God. Even after this experience, Peter still struggled to understand fully Jesus’ message about the Kingdom or Realm of God. And yet, Peter went on to fully become a pillar of the Church, the rock on which it is founded….

Today is the day in our church calendar when we commemorate the life and ministry of Aelred, Abbot of Rievaulx. At first glance, Aelred seems to be another in a long line of medieval monks, raised in tumultuous times, who grow into faithful leadership and died a “good death.” Such lives are certainly worth highlighting in the narrative arc of Christian history, and Aelred’s life included all that plus one very specific theological focus: friendship….