In the book The Color Purple Celie writes letters to God speaking of her devotion. When trouble after trouble happens she feels abandoned by God who, she says, is “glorying in being deef.” Her friend, Shug, tells her she is looking at thing backwards. She does not need to get God’s attention, God is trying… Read More »

The Church’s liturgical year is designed for us to have an encounter with Christ. We begin the year with the Advent/Christmas season which tells us of what led up to the birth of Jesus and what happened during and after. Lent describes the growing hostility to Jesus which led to his eventual suffering and crucifixion.… Read More »

Do you ever wonder how many magi didn’t follow the star? They might have not been attentive to the rising of the star. Or perhaps they were too busy to take time out to follow the star. Or maybe they just didn’t have the energy to leave their comfortable surroundings to see where the star… Read More »

See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are… Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. No child asks to be born. A child is given life because of the love of the parents.… Read More »

Several years ago the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches adopted as a motto: Doctrine divides, service unites. While there is a certain truth to that sentiment it denies the importance of proclaiming correct doctrine. The idea of “you believe what you want and I’ll believe what I want” can have… Read More »

When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel. Naming a child is the first step in child-rearing that parents undertake. In many cultures and families, it is traditional to name your child after a relative. Remember in the story of the naming of John the… Read More »

The month of January is named after Janus, the Roman god of doorways. Janus is pictured as having two faces, facing both backwards and frontwards. January 1 was, therefore considered the appropriate day to start the new year, endings and beginnings. Earlier calendars in Rome used March, the coming of new life in Spring to… Read More »

There was a movie a few years (decades!) ago called The Producers. It was eventually staged as a Broadway musical. In one song the producer sings about how he is going to exploit, use, bilk, steal from “little old ladies.” St. Luke in his gospel has a more elevated opinion of little old ladies. He… Read More »

In the days after Christmas we read from the epistles of St. John. They are written 60 or so years after the death of Jesus so there have been two generations of Christians … and as subsequent history keeps repeating there were conflicts in the early church. St. John writes to promote unity among believers.… Read More »

There is an old Polish proverb: le plus ca change, le plus le meme chose. The more things change, the more they remain the same. Because of the times we live in we can easily relate to the fact that government policy would so threaten a family that they would feel the need to flee… Read More »