Today’s gospel reading is one of a string of stories in Matthew where the religious authorities are questioning Jesus, trying to trap him into saying something wrong or heretical. Today it’s the turn of a religious leader who is also...
Wow. I could stand here and look at your beautiful masked faces all day. Even though all I can see are eyes and foreheads, I can see your joy in being back together again. And I hope those of you who are watching online also feel a sense...
What a difference a week makes! Last Sunday we heard one of the most important stories of the people of Israel, God giving them the Ten Commandments. The commandments are not just a list of rules; they are a covenant between God and God’s chosen people. As God says to...
This year as we have made our way through the strange time of a global pandemic many of our Old Testament readings have come from the Book of Exodus. Both have been interesting, and often parallel, journeys. We’ve heard God...
This may be an apocryphal story, but it still rings true. The great philosopher Alfred North Whitehead had just finished his opening lecture in a course on cosmology, the study of the universe, when an agitated student came up to him. “I’m sorry, professor, but...
Two hundred thousand. Two hundred thousand people. Two hundred thousand deaths. Two. Hundred. Thousand. That is the number of deaths from the coronavirus we reached in this country this weekend, or we should say that is the official death count....
“Forgive your neighbor the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray.”“Peter came and said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often shall I forgive? As many as seven times?”“Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven...
Ever since reading the Gospel early this week I have been thinking about a young man I once knew named Todd. Todd grew up in the Midwest as a Jehovah’s Witness. His father was a leader in that denomination’s hierarchy. His...