Ten lepers healed. Shout about that miracle from the rooftops! In an age of readily accessible medicine, it’s easy for us to forget the high cost of sickness in Jesus’ time. So let me bring it home to you: leprosy, which might have described any number of painful and debilitating skin diseases, would also have been cause for … Read the rest
Continue reading "Thankfully Healed" »
I’m all in favor of increasing faith, but what does the mustard seed have against the poor mulberry tree, casting it out to sea to prove a point? And what a curious metaphor for our Lord to choose. Although nothing in Luke’s retelling of this parable suggests that the out-of-place tree drowned, the imagery is confusing. In general, … Read the rest
Continue reading "Of Seeds, Seas, and Trees" »
I never imagined myself saying this in church—or anywhere else, for that matter—but this morning I feel a bit like a mulberry tree. Some very faithful people said “be uprooted from your 13 years of service on the staff of the Bishop of California and be planted at Trinity Cathedral,” and here I am. Feeling a bit out … Read the rest