Palm Sunday, March 29, 2015 Phil.2:5-11 Mark 11:1-11, 14:1-15:47 Today’s proclamation of the gospel embraces a very diverse cast. There are the obvious players: Jesus The twelve disciples with the spotlight shining on Judas and Peter, The high priest, Pilate. And there is a host of unnamed people who give the drama depth and irony: bystanders, the chief priests, elders and the scribes, a man carrying a jug of water, the servant girl who questions Peter, a young man wearing only a linen cloth who then escapes naked, the slave whose ear is cut off, two bandits, the person giving …
Joseph Wiesenfarth’s Homily, March 22, 2015
Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hebrews 5:5-10, John 12:20-33 Recently I was surprised by a word. Not so much surprised by the word itself but by the user of the word. My granddaughter, age 3, wakes up early in the morning for her Day Care, but she’s not keen on getting dressed to go to it. So recently she told her mother, “Mama, underwear is overrated.” Eventually, I’m sure she’ll find out that it isn’t overrated, just overpriced. But, I wonder, where does a three-year old get a four-syllable word? We’ve got something of a similar sense of some words being …
Albert Majkrzak’s Homily, March 15, 2015
On August 16th 1967 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Toward the end of his speech he said this: “If you will let me be a preacher just a little bit – One night, a juror came to Jesus and he wanted to know what he could do to be saved. Jesus didn’t get bogged down in the kind of isolated approach of what he shouldn’t do. Jesus didn’t say, “Now Nicodemus, you must stop lying.” HE didn’t say, “Nicodemus, you must stop cheating if you are doing that.” He didn’t …
Patti LaCross’ Homily, March 1, 2015
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Romans 4:13-25; Mark 8:31-38 I love my life; and I hope that you can say the same thing. I am grateful every day for all the love that surrounds me, the food on our table, a home, choices. So I question: in a world of so much need, so much struggle, what does it mean to wear this, my life, lightly? Today’s readings require us to live with that tension: To hold fast to the covenant of our faith, and lightly to our life – even as we live it with gratitude and joy. Stories of …
Libby Caes’ Homily, February 22, 2015
Mark 1:9-15 When I was a hospital chaplain I would sometimes ask patients, “Where is God/Jesus/the Holy in all this?” I would use the language of the transcendent that the person I was with used.. I wanted to know how they connected the dots, what meaning their faith or beliefs had in their challenges, illness or suffering. I got a wide variety of responses. Sometimes the reply would be, “God wants to teach me something.” Or “God is testing me.” Or, “God is using this to make me stronger.” When I heard such responses I would think to myself, …
Leora Weitzman’s Homily, February 1, 2015
4th Sun in Ordinary Time • 2/1/15 • Leora Weitzman Deuteronomy 18:15-20, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13, Mark 1:21-28 Inhabited by fiery mountains, idols, and unclean spirits, today’s readings might not seem to belong in the modern world at all. They will distance us still further if we use the first reading and the Gospel to emphasize the special role and power of the historical Jesus. Although that may well be Mark’s intent, we will miss a very practical, personal message if we stop there. Consider the experience of the person who experienced healing. I’ve always been captured by the unclean …
Leora Weitzman’s Homily, February 1, 2015
4th Sun in Ordinary Time • 2/1/15 • Leora Weitzman Deuteronomy 18:15-20, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13, Mark 1:21-28 Inhabited by fiery mountains, idols, and unclean spirits, today’s readings might not seem to belong in the modern world at all. They will distance us still further if we use the first reading and the Gospel to emphasize the special role and power of the historical Jesus. Although that may well be Mark’s intent, we will miss a very practical, personal message if we stop there. Consider the experience of the person who experienced healing. I’ve always been captured by the unclean spirit’s …
Libby Caes’ Homily, January 25, 2015
I Samuel 3:1-20 The story of Samuel and Eli is an endearing one. We can all identify with a child’s nocturnal imagination that keeps him or her from sleeping. Imagining monsters under the bed, imagining someone coming in through the window, imagining a voice calling. Imagining whatever…shadows, things that go bump in the night. Rational conversation doesn’t help to turn off the creative mind! It doesn’t just happen to kids though. At any age we have times when we can’t sleep and our minds are out of control. Three is the stuff of fairy tales. Goldilocks and the Three …
Libby Caes' Homily, January 25, 2015
January 25 I Samuel 3:1-20 The story of Samuel and Eli is an endearing one. We can all identify with a child’s nocturnal imagination that keeps him or her from sleeping. Imagining monsters under the bed, imagining someone coming in through the window, imagining a voice calling. Imagining whatever…shadows, things that go bump in the night. Rational conversation doesn’t help to turn off the creative mind! It doesn’t just happen to kids though. At any age we have times when we can’t sleep and our minds are out of control. Three is the stuff of fairy tales. Goldilocks and the …
Joseph Wiesenfarth’s Homily, January 4, 2015
4 January 2015 – Epiphany Sunday 1 Kings 10:1-13, Ephesians 3:1-12, Matthew 2: 1-12 The Queen of Sheba brings gold and precious stones to Solomon. The Magi bring Jesus gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Paul brings “news of the boundless riches of Christ” to the Ephesians. Having paid my property taxes and given my granddaughter pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and dollars in equal amounts for each of her two piggy banks, I may not have much left to give you today. Certainly nothing like the Queen of Sheba brought to Solomon or the Magi brought to Jesus. And I …