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Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me [Psalm 23:4]. One of the many personal advantages of living here in Durham is my proximity to one of my alma maters, Duke Divinity School. As you may know, for almost 20 years, I worked either on or near Duke’s campus. The Div School library is in a category of its own. Only Yale and Princeton would have anything like it. Prior to the pandemic, the Div School also sponsored numerous seminars, discussion groups, and other gatherings. During the pandemic,…

Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother [Mark 6: 25-28, portion of the Gospel lesson for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (RCL, Year B)]. If…

Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” [2 Corinthians 12:7b-8]. A great deal of ink has been spilled over the years in essays, sermons, and reflections upon Paul’s so-called “thorn in the flesh.” That thorn is described—well, not so much “described” as “mentioned”—in the Epistle reading for this upcoming Sunday, the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost…

He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease” [Mark 5:34]. She had lived with her condition for twelve years. She had likely often wondered, however, how anyone could characterize her current state as “life.” Indeed, because of strict religious and social rules [see Leviticus 15:25-30], the woman about whom I speak—the woman described in the middle of this week’s Gospel lesson [Mark 5:21-43, the fifth Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year B]—was considered ritually unclean because of her twelve-year hemorrhage. Moreover, it wasn’t just that she was considered unclean; anyone she touched was rendered unclean as well. By now,…

He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade” [Mark 4:30-32, NRSV, a portion of the Gospel lesson assigned for this Sunday, the Third Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year B]. When Todd and I were perhaps fifteen or so, the Reverend William Leist, the well-liked…

A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother” [Mark 3:32-35, a portion of the Gospel lesson assigned for this Sunday, the Second Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year B]. As most of you have no doubt noticed in your New Testament studies, Mark’s is the fast-paced Gospel. In fact, the gospel writer is so intent upon…

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above” [John 3:1-3, a portion of the Gospel reading for Trinity Sunday, the First Sunday After Pentecost, RCL, Year B]. I suspect that if you asked ten Christians if they could recite John 3:16 without opening their Bible, nine…

The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know” [Ezekiel 37:1-3, a portion of the Old Testament lesson (Ezekiel 37:1-14), the Day of Pentecost, RCL, Year B]. He poured himself a second mug of strong, black coffee and sauntered back to his make-shift home office. As was his morning habit,…

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God [Luke 24:50-53]. Our Faith teaches us that our risen Lord appeared to various groups of His disciples for a period of 40 days following that first Easter morning, when Mary, questioning a man whom she thought was a gardener, heard the voice of her “Rabbouni!” [John 20:16] and realized that Jesus indeed had risen from His tomb. Later…

As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?" [Acts 8:36]. One of the interesting dynamics of the scripture readings appointed for the Sundays between Easter and Pentecost in all three years of the scriptural cycle formed by the Revised Common Lectionary is the fact that the first reading each week comes not from the Old Testament, but rather from Luke’s Acts of the Apostles. The reading for this upcoming Sunday, the Fifth Sunday of Easter, is the relatively familiar story of the marvelous, miraculous encounter between Philip and an unnamed…