Many years ago, when I was a brand-new priest, I was asked to be the spiritual director for a weekend retreat. The retreat, sponsored by a well-established prison ministry, was designed for women whose husbands or sons were incarcerated. This is not a population with whom I had much prior experience, but I’m a Spanish speaker and so … Read the rest
Continue reading "A Name and a Story" »
Some years ago, I witnessed a rather masterful preacher interpret this parable by cutting up her MasterCard in front of the congregation, and then dropping the pieces in an offering plate. “No one can serve two masters,” she reminded us, while ceremoniously depositing shards of plastic. The object lesson was both clever and shocking. I’ll certainly never forget … Read the rest
Continue reading "No One Can Serve Two MasterCards" »
Trinity Sunday is something of a bane for preachers, probably because we’ve all been subjected to so many bad analogies for the theological majesty of one God in three persons. In my [sometimes not so] humble opinion, the Holy Trinity just doesn’t lend itself to comparison to an apple, an egg, or even to a shamrock. May … Read the rest
Continue reading "Triune Singularity" »
¡Qué placer estar con Uds. este Domingo de Pentecostés! What a pleasure to be with you this Sunday of Pentecost!
June seems to be a traveling season for me. Last year, at just about this time of year, I found myself in Louisville Kentucky. Which is a long way from Jerusalem no matter how you measure it. A … Read the rest
Continue reading "Foolish of Tongue" »
Perhaps you’ve seen the funny but kind of edgy Netflix drama called “Orange is the new Black.” It’s set in a women’s prison, which makes all kinds of improbable human interactions possible. I heard an interview with the screenwriter, who explained that an enclosed setting like a prison is the perfect narrative device, because it makes it possible … Read the rest
Continue reading "Purple is the New Orange" »
When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, ‘Listen, he is calling for Elijah.’ And someone ran, … Read the rest
Continue reading "Two of the Seven" »March 31, 2025: Isaiah 65:17-25 Psalm 30:1-6, 11-13 John 4:43-54
Water into wine, death into life: what extraordinary transformations! In John’s Gospel, these miracles are called signs. And I think that’s actually more descriptive language to describe what Jesus was up to. Miracles were called “signs” because they were intended to point beyond themselves, revealing Jesus as the bearer of God’s … Read the rest
Continue reading "Miracles & Signs" »March 27, 2025: Jeremiah 7:23–28 Psalm 95:6–11 Luke 11:14–23
We are a stubborn people, are we not? That was God’s verdict conveyed through Jeremiah, and God was not wrong. This being Lent, let me be the first to confess my own stubbornness. There are days when I wake up and make decisions that affect other people without asking for God’s … Read the rest
Continue reading "Obedience Unto Discipleship" »March 26, 2025: Deuteronomy 4:1–2,5–9 Psalm 78:1–6 Matthew 5:17–19
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets,” said Jesus to the first-century equivalent of huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Rather like the European immigrants who passed by the Statue of Liberty on their way to Ellis Island, the Jewish people of Israel longed for … Read the rest
Continue reading "Law & Grace" »
“Why should it be wasting the soil?” asked the man with the unfruitful fig tree. I’m guessing he put himself in charge of DOGE, the Department of Gardening Efficiency. “If it’s not bearing fruit that I can see right now, cut that thing right down.”
The irony of this parable is that God is generally not that interested … Read the rest
Continue reading "Amend, Amend, Amen" »