RESOLVING PAUL’S DILEMMA: THE JEWISH JESUS: A WAY OPEN TO OTHER WAYS Sermon – Aug 6, 2023 Readings: Isaiah 55: 1-5; Romans 9:1-5; Matt 14: 13-21 “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood And sorry I could not travel both, ….. I took the one less-travelled by.” Paul Knitter
Manato Jansen’s Homily from July 23, 2023
Hope, entangled – Manato Jansen During this season when we have a break from the snow and so many of us are back in our gardens, growing crops and plants, a vivid visualization of this parable may come easily for us. The difficulty of cultivating, the joy of new life, and its challenges… Whenever I read this parable I picture my childhood during the humid Japan summers, pulling deep-rooted weeds out of the backyard for a rewarding allowance of about 50 cents. But the parable may also startle us. Once removed from the ground, the weeds are not simply discarded. …
Patti La Cross’s Homily from July 30, 2023
17th Sunday, July 30, 2023 Holy Wisdom Monastery 1 Kings 3: 5-12; Romans 8:26-39; Matthew 13: 31-33,44-52 Patti La Cross What welcome relief we have with our recent rains, and the dramatic greening and flourishing of the deep-rooted prairie and of our gardens! This summer as we experienced worsening drought, the reality that we all face from humanly-altered changes in climate came closer to home. I know that I”m not alone in the grief I feel for all our children and grandchildren, fearful for how they will experience the future, fearful of scarcity across the world.. So I’m grateful …
Winton Boyd’s Homily from July 16, 2023
Homily July 16, 2023 Winton Boyd When I read the gospel, my first thought was, wow, is there a better text for a monastic and Sunday assembly community located in the middle of a prairie? Seed wisdom upon seed wisdom! I’d like to offer up three sources of seed wisdom for us today. First, we have the wisdom of both the Hebrew and New Testaments.Isaiah and Matthew offer up powerful images of God’s word growing abundantly and filled with promise and possibility. “My word…shall not return empty” the prophet says. He likens the journey of faith to rain falling to …
Wayne Sigelko’s Homily from July 2, 2023
Homily for July 2, 2023 – 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time One of the things I greatly enjoy about preparing to preach is rediscovering on a regular basis the fact that insight about the meaning of the readings we encounter each week in our liturgy can be found in unusual places. For instance, in preparing for this week’s homily I came across an article in the University of Detroit Mercy Law Review: “Today hospitality is seen as a matter of etiquette, not ethics, a gracious welcome extended to dinner guests, or the patrons of a restaurant. But in the Bible …
Colleen Hartung’s Homily from June 25, 2023
Not Peace but a Sword Matthew 10: 24-39 June 25, 2023 By Colleen D. Hartung Today’s gospel was not the good news I was hoping for. Not by a long shot. Actually, my goal this year is to find my way toward some sort of healing in my relationships across my extended family networks. So many of these relationships have been frayed by seemingly insurmountable and consequential differences on social, political, cultural and religious issues. You know the old saying, “don’t talk about money, politics or religion with family and friends especially at the holidays.” Somehow that didn’t quite work …
Rex Piercy’s Homily from June 4, 2023
Homily for the Feast of the Holy Trinity, June 4, 2023, Holy Wisdom Monastery, Middleton, WI Beginning today we now navigate a long season of the church year after Pentecost which gets dubbed ingloriously as “ordinary time.” This nearly full half year of the calendar begins and ends with two days whose origins do not arise from actual events like Christmas or Easter but are based upon abstract concepts, ideas, or more likely on later doctrine developed by the church. Ordinary Time closes on the Sunday just before Advent begins as the Reign of Christ, celebrating a cosmic Christ, the …
Jerry Folk’s Homily from May 28, 2023
In last week’s reading from Acts, Jesus commissions his followers to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth and promises to send the Spirit upon them to empower them for this mission. In today’s reading from Acts this promise is fulfilled. The Jesus community is has a mystical experience that awakens in us an awareness of the presence and power of God within us. This awareness gives the community courage and confidence to share Jesus’ message of the coming Reign of God with a hostile world. We see the beginning of this witness in the second scene …
Nancy Enderle’s Homily from Ascension Sunday, May 21, 2023
Ascension Sunday 5/21/23 Holy Wisdom Monastery Sunday Assembly – Nancy R Enderle, Homilist Psalm 47 Acts 1:1-11 Ephesians1:15-23 Matthew 28:16-20 As I reflected on the beautiful passages shared for this, the last Sunday of Eastertide and the Celebration of Christ’s Ascension, I was reminded of something Ram Das, an inter-faith spirituality teacher said in one of his dharma talks which was recorded for the podcast Here and Now. (Podcast #68) The talk, which had been recorded years ago on a Saturday following Good Friday, included reflections about the painful loss and limbo those first followers of Jesus were experiencing, and …
Leora Weitzman’s Homily from May 7, 2023
5th Sunday in Easter • Acts 7:55–60 • 1 Peter 2:2–10 • John 14:1–14 • May 7, 2023 • Pluralism Sunday There’s a tree in the woods near me that I call the many-hearted tree. Since she has many forks about shoulder height, no matter what direction you approach from, you have the impression of a pair of arms raised in welcome, ready to enfold you where a heart would be. I was just passing by her the other day when I noticed the echo of today’s Gospel: “In my Abba-God’s house there are many dwelling places.” The word for …