Julia McCray-Goldsmith, Author at LiftUpYourHearts

Boys in Trees

My family loves an Episcopal camp in Sonoma County: The Bishop’s Ranch is where my kids spent their growing-up summers, and where my family’s parish took annual weekend retreats. It’s a beautiful piece of land that lent itself to worship and warm fellowship, but I have to confess—as a mother of multiple sons—the best … Read the rest

Thankfully Healed

Proper 23C

Ten lepers healed. Shout about that miracle from the rooftops! In an age of readily accessible medicine, it’s easy for us to forget the high cost of sickness in Jesus’ time. So let me bring it home to you: leprosy, which might have described any number of painful and debilitating skin diseases, would also have been cause for … Read the rest

Of Seeds, Seas, and Trees

Proper 22C

I’m all in favor of increasing faith, but what does the mustard seed have against the poor mulberry tree, casting it out to sea to prove a point? And what a curious metaphor for our Lord to choose. Although nothing in Luke’s retelling of this parable suggests that the out-of-place tree drowned, the imagery is confusing. In general, … Read the rest

This Is Not A Parable

Proper 20C

There once was a rich man who owned an invaluable gemstone weighing well over 100 carats, one of the largest cut diamonds in the world. And the local factions in his country fought over it for at least a century, until it passed into the hands of a colonial queen in a far-away land. All of the rich … Read the rest

The Healing Medicine of Hope

Proper 16C

I’ve been praying for a lot of hurting people lately. You know who some of them are because their names are on the Trinity prayer list. In recent weeks we’ve prayed for people with COVID, with cancer, and for people recovering from surgery. Some of you here today have been among those we’re praying for. I also know … Read the rest

A Prophet for Divided Times

Proper 15C

I grew up with the lyric “you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows” etched in my memory. That reference surely dates me, although I confess that I was a pretty small child when my parents were playing Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” on our home stereo. My parents were themselves young antiwar activists … Read the rest

Surrounded by Treasure

Proper 14C

“If only I had known”. How many times have I said something like that to myself? If only I’d known that it was going to rain, I would have fixed that leak. If only I’d known that my car was going to be broken into, I wouldn’t have left my purse under the seat. If only I’d known … Read the rest

Ask, Seek, Knock, Persist

Proper 12C

Some years ago I embarked on a long retreat with a new spiritual director, and at our first session he asked me how and how often I pray. Seems like a reasonable question for a spiritual director to ask, but somehow it made me feel a bit like when the dentist last asked me how well and how … Read the rest

You Can’t Always Get What You Want

Proper 11C

“Tell her then to help me.” How often have I said that? OK, maybe I’ve had the self-control not to say it out loud. After all, that would be what’s called triangulation. The example of which—in this case—being Martha asking Jesus to carry the uncomfortable message, rather than asking her sister for help directly. Indirect or triangular communication … Read the rest

From Fire to Freedom

Proper 8C

“Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” As a mother who has raised two sons, I am well versed in the primal human desire—especially among adolescent males—to incinerate things. But Jesus immediately rebuked James and John for suggesting that the inhospitable Samaritan village be destroyed, and the disciples continued … Read the rest