Holy Wisdom Blog

Homily: 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time  Jan 21, 2024 Somewhere back in grade school, it was impressed upon me and my classmates that every story has a beginning, middle and an end. Today’s readings present us with two beginnings (one of which is also an end) and one end (which is really a middle). In the gospel, we have Mark’s breathless description of the call of the first four disciples as Jesus begins his public ministry. In the reading from the first letter to the Corinthians, we have a middle, even though Paul thinks it is an end. But that’s …

January 14, 2024 Holy Wisdom Monastery 1 Samuel 1:9-18,20; 1 Corinth 6:12-20, John 1:35-51 Patti La Cross It is a lovely and rare treat to hear from John’s gospel today, and my privilege to be steeped in it for a time. I am of the opinion that this gospel ‘pairs well’ with a community like ours, this community of communities. It speaks well to the inclusiveness we treasure, our shared worship, values and leadership. Significantly, many of those Jesus encounters in this gospel are women – women shown as whole, complex, and utterly worthy disciples and leaders! In recent weeks …

Epiphany  January 7, 2024                            Homily   Matthew 2:1-12                                          Pam Shellberg                  Since the 4th century, the church has observed epiphany as a liturgical season, with gospel texts that manifest, reveal, unveil what the incarnation of God in Jesus means. If Christmas celebrates the fact of divine life come to us, the fact of God become human, the fact of God-with-us, then Epiphany celebrates the truth of us-with-God, unveils for us the divinity of our humanity in Christ, reveals the divine glory in which we and all creation dwell. Today’s gospel, which comes from the gospel of Matthew is read …