The Revised Common Lectionary skips the evocative story of Legion and his many demons, and their demise in a herd of pigs who could not swim, much less fly. (Luke’s version will come up in Year C.) Instead we skip ahead on the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time to Mark 5:21-43, another “sandwich passage.” As […]
Monday Meditation: RCL Year B, 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Mark 4:35-41
This Sunday’s lectionary Gospel (Mark 4:35-41) is one I remember puzzling over when I was a university student. I had read it before, probably several times, since I started reading the Bible in high school. Maybe I’d even heard it preached. But I had never noticed this little story. I had never stopped and really […]
Monday Meditation: RCL Year B, 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Mark 4:26-34
I have come to dearly love the parables of the kingdom — all those rich metaphors for how God works in the world, in us, through us, and despite us. I love them even when, like this week, the lectionary wrenches them from their context. Mark 4:26-34 This week’s little parables come in Jesus’ sermon […]
Letters to a Young Pastor: The Children’s Sermon — Is it Gospel?
Dear ______: Thanks for asking me to clarify. I said something about how children’s sermons often reveal a preacher’s real theology, for good or for ill. I suspect it is because pastors do not think of the children’s sermon as a sermon. They think of it more as a conversation. If they have a warm, […]
First Visit to an Orthodox Church (pt. 6): Hearing vs Multi-Sensory
In this series I have pointed out a bunch of key differences between worship in the Protestant West and in the Orthodox East — architecture, candles, icons, processions and so on. I fear, though, that even with all these things in mind, many Protestants will have a hard time on a first visit to an […]
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