Month: August 2026

Exodus 1:15-21 — The Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah who defied Pharaoh’s order to kill newborn boys. We knew the sound of first breath— that sharp cry that splits silence and announces another soul has fought its way into light. For years we had answered the call, rushing through Hebrew doorways where women labored and prayed, our hands steady, our voices calm. We knew the weight of new life, slippery and warm and crying, how a mother’s face transforms when she sees what love has made. Then Pharaoh summoned us. Two Hebrew midwives called before the throne of the man who owned our world. His voice was cold as marble:…

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A — Psalm 133 How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity. —Psalm 133:1 Grandson Andrew was three, perhaps four, when Jane and I gathered with Gray, April, and their brood for breakfast at one of the diners on Hilton Head Island a number of years ago. Andrew’s pancakes came. Someone had made the mistake of placing the syrup within his reach. I remember that he took the pitcher in both hands and began to pour. And then he poured some more. I sat uncomfortably at the other end of the table, watching a small lake of syrup spread across…

Copyright 2026. Thomas A. Robinson. All rights reserved. Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, RCL, Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer…. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; … But when Reuben heard it, he [said], “Let us not take his life…. Shed no blood, throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, …” [Genesis 37:20-22]. I was the one who said: not with our hands. Let the pit take him instead of us— dry, empty, going nowhere. A hole in the ground is not a knife. I said it like mercy. I have had a…