This week’s lectionary Gospel text (John 6:35, 41-51) starts with the same verse we ended with last week. Then, oddly, it skips four verses before continuing the story. It is the middle week of a five-week-long revel in John 6, as Jesus discusses, debates, and disputes about manna from heaven and himself as the “Bread […]
First Visit to an Orthodox Church (conclusion): Religionless Christianity vs Religionfull Christianity
Today I’m wrapping up my series on “How to Have a Good First Visit to an Orthodox Church.” Six posts, not counting this one. (Click here to start at the beginning.) If you are a Protestant that probably sounds a bit like overkill. You know newbies don’t need much help when they visit your church. […]
Monday Meditation: RCL Year B, 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Mark 5:21-43
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 […]
Shouldn’t This Be Easy? (Letters to a Young Pastor)
Dear ______: Thanks for your note. You are definitely right: seeking a mountaintop experience is by no means the only off-target assumption people bring to seminary. And the assumptions that you bring make a big difference on the experience you have. Anyway, the conversations you mention point to another assumption that can keep people from […]
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