What is it? Given that the Israelites were far from home and hungry, and what was available to them was a peculiar flaky substance left behind by the dew after a flock of quails invaded their camp, that seems like an entirely fair question. Moses attempted to reassure them by saying “it is the bread that the Lord has given … Read the rest
Continue reading "What Is It?" »
The feeding of the five thousand, according to John. If we’ve been coming to church for a while, we’ve heard this story so many times. And we should hear it many times! It’s so central to Jesus’ ministry that it is the only miracle to appear—in its various versions—in all four Gospels. It underlies our ritual practices of … Read the rest
Continue reading "All Heaven Breaking Loose" »
“I know a person… who was caught up into Paradise,” Paul wrote to the church in Corinth nearly two thousand years ago. “Even considering the exceptional character of the revelations, however, I refrain from boasting.”
This passage is one of my favorites in all of Paul’s voluminous correspondence to the early church, in large part because it … Read the rest
Continue reading "Unexceptional" »
“Your daughter is dead.” I can imagine no more dreadful words for a parent to hear, and it almost makes me tremble to say them out loud on a Sunday when we celebrate my own adult child’s ministry at Trinity. Given his childhood mischief—some of it acted out in church—Lord knows how he reached adulthood alive! And soon … Read the rest
Continue reading "Live Without Fear" »
What’s the deal with mustard, anyway?
I know it’s an odd question. But since we just heard Mark’s version of the famous parable of the mustard seed I want to reflect a bit on my relationship to its condiment cousin. I don’t know about you, but I have lots of mustard in my refrigerator. There are all these odd shaped … Read the rest
Continue reading "Growing Sacred Seeds" »
“How can anyone be born after having grown old?” It’s a reasonable question. How indeed? But rather than waiting for an answer, Nicodemus narrowed his focus to biology “Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus was not impressed, evidently. “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not … Read the rest
Continue reading "Born into One" »
Mortals, can these bones Live? Can these tired and lonely people know God’s love, can this online worship glorify God for those who need to be at home, can the Altar Guild and ushers re-group for the benefit of those who are in church, can the choir sing safely, can these bills be paid? Can the church as … Read the rest
Continue reading "Tell it [and] Live" »
Happy Mother’s Day, to all of us who have mothers. Good mothers, stressed mothers, imperfect mothers, addicted mothers, angry mothers, surrogate mothers, loving mothers. All of them—and all of us—doing the best we are able to, with the help of God’s own motherly care.
Most of you know that my own son Aaron has been serving as Trinity’s … Read the rest
Continue reading "A Joy Complete" »
How do any of us ever get up and walk? “Through our own power or piety?” Peter asked rhetorically of people who had just witnessed a healing at the Jerusalem temple. The lame man walked only because of God’s grace. Likely we didn’t get onto our feet through our own power or piety either, but how would we … Read the rest
Continue reading "Beyond the First Step" »
Last Sunday, during our noon forum hour we showed the first of twelve videos produced by the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real. They feature conversations with local Episcopalians of color, and I have found them to be very moving. Today we’ll be hearing from Salying Wong, rector of St. Thomas Sunnyvale. But last week the video featured Brett Wormley, … Read the rest
Continue reading "Can it be that Bad?" »