Author: trob

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God …. But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort [Luke 6:20b, 24, NIV]. Jesus’ extended “Sermon on the Mount,” transcribed for us by St. Matthew (see chs. 5-7) takes place—rather obviously—on a “mountainside,” with Jesus assuming the rabbinical, seated position [Matthew 5:1]. St. Luke’s extended recounting of Jesus’ sermon [Luke 6:20-49], a portion of which—Luke 6:17-26—is the Gospel reading appointed for the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany [RCL, Year C], takes place after Jesus went down from the mountainside and stood in the plain [Luke 6:17, KJV]. Hence, the sermon in…

When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” [Luke 5:6-8]. During our recent Wednesday Bible Study sessions, my Carolina Arbors friends and I have been discussing, among other things, how the Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—are remarkably consistent and yet, if one moves through the text slowly, with a discernible…

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things [1 Corinthians 13:4-7]. A few days ago, I was on treacherous ground. I’m not speaking about the dusting of snow that Durham had received. I’m referring instead to the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, the 13th century philosopher/theologian. Knowing that the Lectionary appointed the First Corinthians 13:1-13 text as the Epistle reading for this Sunday, the…

All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked [Luke 4:22] I remember well the delivery of my first sermon. It was May 1987. I’d been “posted” as a 36-year-old “field ed” intern at Saxapahaw UMC (Chatham County, NC) for the summer that followed my first year at Duke Div School. Nowadays, Saxapahaw is a chic little village, with trendy shops and cafes, catering to those who want to live in nearby Chapel Hill, but who can’t afford the zip code. Back in ’87, however, it was a sleepy little town on the Haw River, struggling…

When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now” [John 2:9-10, NRSV, a portion of the Gospel reading for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, RCL, Year C]. A joke circulated during my Divinity School days. No doubt it was first repeated decades before my study there (1986-89), and no doubt the riddle is still chuckled over…

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; …. [Matthew 2:1-3, a portion of the Gospel reading for the Epiphany of our Lord, RCL, Year C]. You’ve heard my story before. My name is Melchior. Long ago, I was a Zoroastrian priest from Persia. Because my colleagues and I liked to study and write (and…

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem them who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons [Galatians 4:4-5, Douay-Rheims Bible (1750), ed./tr. by bishop Richard Challoner]. As I have mentioned within these weekly meditations on several occasions, I’m part of an active Bible Study that meets each Wednesday at 11 a.m., via Zoom. I haven’t cleared this with the group, but if anyone outside the Carolina Arbors community is interested in joining us online, I think we can accommodate you. In any event, we’re currently in Matthew…

Introductory note Our Dad, unlike his two brothers-in-law, was not a story-teller. And yet, one of my most vivid memories about him is how at some moment during the weeks just before Christmas—year after year after year—he would turn to us and say, “Boys, did I ever tell you about that Christmas in Sioux City?” We’d laugh, and as Mother smiled and looked at us, one of us would say, “Dad, you tell that same story every Christmas.” Over the years, the story became interactive. Since we knew the story so well, if he omitted a detail while telling it, we’d interject a comment here and there to supplement Dad’s…

First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” (although the law required them to be made). Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all [Hebrews 10:8-10]. The Lectionary committee showed particular skill in joining the readings for this upcoming Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Advent (RCL, Year C). For example, the Psalter reading, Psalm 80:1-7, with its descriptive metaphors and…

Rejoice in the Lord always; I will say it again, Rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God [Philippians 4:4-6]. Waiting can be quite difficult for many, if not most of us. When I want to draw upon my strongest feelings about waiting, I reflect back to my freshman and sophomore years at Wake Forest, now more than 50 years ago. Then, before the completion of I-85 and the rest of the interstate highway system, it took me almost six hours to drive from Wake…