Jesus Archives - Page 2 of 14

Hands in Blessing?

I’ve spent a fair amount of time this week looking at paintings of the Ascension. There are lots of them—by Renaissance masters like Giotto and Rembrandt and Titian—and also by early iconographers and manuscript illuminators. And then in the 20^th century, there’s the evocative rendition by Salvador Dali. I hope you have seen it, or will at least … Read the rest

Just Do (Do) It

Palm Sunday 2024

Whew. This gut-wrenching Palm Sunday Gospel, dramatically enacted by… reads like a catalog of provocative questions and defamatory statements about Jesus’ identity. At the outset, Pilate asks Jesus if he is king of the Jews, and then the Gospel ends with a centurion proclaiming “truly this man was God’s son.” In between, there’s all manner of mocking … Read the rest

Letting Go and Going Forth

Epiphany 4B

This and next Sunday are exceptional days for Trinity Cathedral. Next week is our annual parish meeting, and today people who will be at Trinity in person will not be hearing a regular sermon, but rather contemplating a Biblical text together. So I’d like to invite you to engage in something similar alongside us, all with the goal … Read the rest

Peculiar Kingship

Christ the King A

Today being Christ the King Sunday, and myself never having lived under the authority of an earthly king, I thought I’d better do some research into how my peers think about kings. So I did what contemporary people do, and turned to the Oracle of Mountain View—that being Google—for insight.

I figured that I’d learn a … Read the rest

Real and Reconciled

Earlier this year, United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, sounded the alarm about an American epidemic which predated COVID-19: the phenomenon of loneliness, now affecting half of all Americans. It is a serious public health problem. Lack of social connection has been found to be as dangerous as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.

Murthy has … Read the rest

Transfiguration and its Discontents

Transfiguration Sunday

John and I have been going to a lot of movies this summer. There are some good ones out there, but also its really fun to spend a few hours in an air conditioned theater. Sometimes in seats that recline in all kinds of fancy ways. With a bucket of salty popcorn! It feels like the summer rituals … Read the rest

Wake Up and Smell the Garden

Proper 10A

Our collect appointed for this Sunday—that’s the prayer at the beginning of the service—asks for God to give us knowledge and understanding about what things we ought to do. That’s a very good prayer for what we Christians sometimes call discernment. That is, our spiritual practices for choosing the right course of action, as followers of Jesus. Last … Read the rest

A Tale of Two Daughters

Proper 5A

I might characterize the Gospel lesson we just heard as a tale of two daughters. One of them the well-loved daughter of a Jewish leader, who was so committed to her wellbeing that he was willing to publicly humble himself before an itinerant healer of somewhat dubious credentials. The other un-named woman was an evident outcast. We have … Read the rest

The Way, to be Chosen

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” It’s a good question, no? The kind of clarity-seeking question we have come to expect of Thomas the doubter, who wanted to see it before he believed it. And from our vantage point in the Episcopal Church during this … Read the rest

Honest to Grief

Good Friday 2023

Together with some of you at Trinity, I spent Ash Wednesday—the first of forty days of Lenten self-denial that precede Easter—out on the streets of San Jose imposing ashes on the foreheads of people who had little need of them. The people sleeping rough in our urban parks and sidewalks know what it is to do without, … Read the rest