One of my closest friends is a devout Roman Catholic who attends Mass almost daily. While I won’t share his name, many of my Gastonia friends will readily know of whom I speak. He and I share not only a hearty friendship, but a spiritual journey. We are sojourners along the same path, and I…

Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream [Jeremiah 17:7-8a]. It’s 597 BCE. Jerusalem has already witnessed its first deportation to Babylon. Now, its remaining leaders face a wrenching decision: submit to Babylonian domination…

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so…

Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,”Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy”…

All the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate… They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses …. He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and women and those who could…

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding [John 2:1-2, a portion of the Gospel reading assigned for this Sunday, the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, RCL, Year C]. In John’s Gospel, the…

Now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” [Luke 3:21-22]. Last…

Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him and will keep him as a shepherd does a flock” [Jeremiah 31:10]. The Word became flesh and lived among us [John 1:14]. In the wake of Jerusalem’s destruction by Babylonian forces…

The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all nations [Isaiah 52:10] These words from Isaiah [see Isaiah 52:7-10, the Old Testament reading for Christmas Day, RCL, Year C] originally fell on weary ears. Decades into exile, the people of Judah had heard it all before—promises of restoration, visions of return, declarations…

But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days [Micah 5:2]. In the 8th century before Christ, as powerful Assyrian armies threatened the southern kingdom of…