The Bible gives us many images of God: King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Since I don’t know many kings or lords that is not really a helpful image of God for me. Even the more beloved images, like the Good Shepherd, don’t really connect with my experience since I don’t run into shepherds very… Read More »

Jesus asked the paralytic by the pool of Bethesda, “Do you want to be well?” You can almost imagine the sick man saying “DUH, of course.” But what he does instead is make excuses for all the reasons he is not well. What Jesus is really asking him, will you do those things which will… Read More »

How did we end up here? We certainly didn’t all start from the same place. Maybe you started as Peter Prodigal and did all the good things the bad boys do. After trying this, that, and the other thing in striving for happiness you discovered that nothing worked. In fact, pretty soon you found yourself… Read More »

The parable of the Pharisee and the Publican illustrates the problem with the very human tendency to make comparisons. Is Ziva David better than Ellie Bishop? Is the pitcher we traded for better than the other? Which is the lesser of the evils that I should vote for in the next election? Jesus wants us… Read More »

In St. Mark’s gospel when Jesus is asked about the great commandment he quotes from the traditional Jewish prayer, the Shema Yisrael. If you ask Christians what constitutes the great commandment they would doubtless answer “love God and love neighbor.” What strikes me, however, is that the first command in the shema is to hear.… Read More »

“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” Throughout the Bible — Jeremiah, the Psalms, Jesus — the image of a hardened heart is used a symbol of a spiritual problem. We know something of how our physical heart gets hardened. We call it arteriosclerosis. This disease does not happen all at once… Read More »

Finis Abernathy passed away this morning at his home in Hyde Park. He had entered hospice care in September, once it became clear that further cancer treatment could not help. Funeral arrangements are pending. The prayers of all of us at St. James are with Verda and the family.

ALL SAINTS, ALL THE TIME Every Sunday we say the Creed right after the homily, and towards the end of that profession of faith comes the phrase “communion of saints.” Today being All Saints Day, that phrase has a special prominence. We have no trouble connecting the phrase in the Creed with today’s feast, and… Read More »

For nearly two thousand years the death and resurrection of Jesus has been at the center of the Christian life, placed in our hearts by the love of the Lord, and placed before our eyes and in our hands by the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. By this sacrament the totality of Christ – his… Read More »