Month: February 2024

And God spoke all these words: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery …” [Exodus 20:1-2]. The Old Testament lesson for this upcoming Sunday, the Third Sunday in Lent (RCL, Year B), is the familiar passage detailing the Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20:1-17 (as opposed to the slightly different version found in Deuteronomy 5:6-21). As I sifted through some old notes on the text, my eye was drawn to an article written years ago by Joshua Green, former senior editor of The Atlantic, entitled “Roy and His Rock” [The Atlantic, October 2005]. Some of you, particularly our dear…

Author’s Note: This was originally posted February 24, 2021, when the Genesis text served as the Old Testament reading. There are a few references below to COVID-19, which was raging through the world three years ago. Otherwise, however, I pray this meditation speaks to your world and that of your neighbor. Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!” [Genesis 17:17-18, the verses that follow the Old Testament reading for the Second Sunday in…

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel" [Mark 1:14-15, NKJV]. Grace and Peace to each of you this Ash Wednesday. A good friend and colleague has allowed that the four Gospels can perhaps be distilled into the answers to two dominant questions: “Who is Jesus?” and “What time is it?” To be sure, other issues spring forth from the words penned by the inspired authors, but to my mind, there is a lot to be said for my friend’s words of focus. We…

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, …. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to Him! [Mark 9: 2, 7]. When we come to this week’s Gospel reading, Mark 9:2-9 [Transfiguration Sunday, RCL, Year B], we may be prepared for a lot of things. I don’t think we’re prepared, however, for a mountain. I acknowledge that earlier, according to Mark, Jesus “went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted” (i.e., the…