Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs.
Read MoreIn my father’s house are many rooms, Jesus tells the disciples, and he is going to prepare a place for us.
I would like to know more about those rooms. I would like to know exactly what Jesus means by these verses. I want to know when this is going to happen, and how, and I want to know what those rooms look like. And so do the disciples. Disciples who in this reading are clearly confused.
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Read MoreWhat is a gate? If you are in prison, a gate means one thing. If you are in a castle, it means something altogether different.
If you are in prison, the gate keeps you in. It is a place you do not want to be, but you cannot get out. If you are in a castle, the gate keeps the other people out. It is a place you do want to be, and you do not want anybody from the outside getting in. You think the gate keeps you safe if you are outside the prison and the people on the other side cannot get to you. You think the gate keeps you safe if you are inside the castle and the people on the other side cannot get to you. Closed gates both hold us captive and keep us safe. Open gates both free us and frighten us.
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Read MoreThere is a theory of the physical world that says that in every instant things decide what they will become in the next instant. In this theory there is a kind of timeout between the past and the future. In that tiny moment, a thing has a chance to become the same as it was, or become something new. It pays attention to the things around it and makes a choice of what to be. Mostly, of course, things choose to be just what they were. But not always. So, for example, the pieces of this pulpit mostly stay pulpit pieces, being strongly influenced by the other pieces of the pulpit surrounding them. But some are influenced by the air, for example, or my hand resting here. That explains why the pulpit can remain a pulpit for hundreds of years, but eventually will be worn away, eroded by the elements and by the preachers.
Read MoreIt hardly seemed a joyful occasion. Even after Mary had come to tell them what she had discovered. That Jesus had risen from death and that she and Jesus had spoken.
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Read MoreWhat is your question, Nicodemus? What do you want to know, Nicodemus? What do you want?
Nicodemus comes in the night. He comes in the darkness. Under protection of the night. In the dark. He comes, perhaps, at risk to himself. Fearful, perhaps, we don’t know, of his fellow Pharisees. He comes, perhaps, in secret. To meet this man Jesus.
Read MoreLet’s begin at the beginning. If only we could find the beginning.
We have a model of our lives. The big picture. Sort of a scheme of things. A common model is that our lives are lived in stages. Grammar school, middle school, high school, college, graduate school, post-doc. Or: Dating, courtship, marriage. Or: That time when I lived in Boston, when I lived in California, when I lived in Cambodia. Or: Intern, novice, manager, partner. As if we were a reality TV show, divided into seasons and episodes. In this view of things, it seems inside of us as if life were a series of discreet steps, steps usually made intentionally, and sometimes marked by ritual. Graduation, wedding, promotion. Each step a new beginning.
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Read MoreThe Lutheran church in the U.S. is fostering splinter groups. Some people are not happy with the way things are going. Some folks do not like the agreement Lutherans have made with the Episcopalians. Some don’t like the agreement made with the UCC and Presbyterian churches. Some don’t like the stance of the church on the ordination of gay or lesbian pastors, some think the church is too liberal and others think it too conservative. Some think they are the real Lutherans. Some think they are the real Christians. Some of these folks have formed clubs of like-minded people. Some of these clubs have threatened to resign from the Lutheran church. That’ll show ‘em, they think.
Read MoreIt seems a little foolish.
It seems a little foolish to follow this man to who-knows-where for who-knows-what purpose. To follow Jesus on the strength of John’s exclamation: Look, here is the lamb of God. As if that were a reason. But it turned out that that was reason enough for Andrew and the other disciple (who does not even get mentioned by name). Enough to abandon one kind of life, known and familiar, for another kind, unknown and exotic.
Read MoreHerod wanted to know. He was ignorant. He knew a little something. He wanted to know more. Herod knew what he had heard through rumor, gossip, and from mysterious travelers. What little Herod knew made him afraid. Herod was a frightened man. Anyone who rules through coercion, through violence, is an frightened man. Anyone who rules by making people afraid—and that is how Herod ruled—anyone who rules like that lives in fear. Someday, something will be happen. Herod heard from the mysterious travelers, the magi, that maybe his replacement had just been born. You have to be pretty jumpy to worry about babies who were just born who might possibly someday replace you, but it seems that Herod was pretty jumpy.
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