“Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! We easily say that the first commandment is to love. But looking at the text the first commandment of Jesus is to “hear.” This is not nit picking because it serves as a reminder that all that we do… Read More »
MARCH72024
I have sent you untiringly all my servants the prophets. Yet they have not obeyed me nor paid heed. The prophet Jeremiah found that people didn’t respond well when challenged to change. God reminds the prophet that it was always thus. And it is still thus. Vivid in my mind are news images of the… Read More »
MARCH62024
Henry David Thoreau once wrote “That government is best which governs least.” That philosophy has guided American politics leaving a distaste for laws which some wags call government interference in life. Let everyone do what they think best — only legislate when it impacts others. That was not the way the Jewish people thought about… Read More »
MARCH52024
One sad fact of life in Chicago is that almost every day there is a family on the news who are mourning their child/spouse/parent/relative who has been killed by violence. “We want justice for our loved one,” is a common request. A very understandable request. However, remember back almost ten years ago when a gun… Read More »
MARCH42024
In one sense you can think of Christianity as the miracle of the ordinary. A woman is pregnant, a child is born, a life is cut short by death — what could be more ordinary than that, yet that is the story of salvation. Our own lives as Christians are most often found by living… Read More »
MARCH32024
At St. James this Sunday the readings will be taken from Year A to provide the proper context for what are known as the scrutinies, prayers for those preparing for baptism. The readings ordinarily assigned to this day (from Year B) contain the story of Jesus cleansing of the temple. This story can, at an… Read More »
MARCH22024
It does, perhaps, skew the interpretation that the most famous of the parables of Jesus is called The Prodigal Son. After all, the parable begins “a man had two sons.” By focusing solely on the younger, prodigal, son one comes to understand the almost unimaginable dept of God’s mercy. The father extended forgiveness and acceptance… Read More »
MARCH12024
The scripture readings for today are about violence. Joseph’s brothers inflict violence upon him out of jealousy. The tenants in the parable inflict violence on the servants and, finally, the son out of greed. The chief priests and elders promote violence as the solution to the situation Jesus proposes in the parable because of their… Read More »
FEBRUARY292024
You would think that to end up in hell you’d have to be a bad person, someone who tortured cats, maybe. The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus provides a chilling alternative. The rich man is, apparently, not a bad person. He at least cared about his brothers. ‘I beg you, father Abraham, send… Read More »
FEBRUARY282024
When the people of Jerusalem were conspiring against the prophet Jeremiah they described what they were looking for in leadership: instruction from the priests, nor of counsel from the wise, nor of messages from the prophets. The mother of James and John wants her sons to be “in the room where it happens” since she,… Read More »
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