Unable to escape sin, the psalmist discovers the joy of being forgiven. Jesus, fully immersed in being a member of humankind, reveals that temptation cannot rule over the word of God.
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, which is the season leading up to Easter, the celebration of God raising Jesus from the dead.
The season of Epiphany ends with Transfiguration Sunday, when we hear how Jesus is transfigured, literally shining with the glory of God. In Christ, the glory of God is revealed. Mountains are familiar places in scripture; the Exodus reading reminds us of another place where God's glory shines.
Deuteronomy reminds us where we find life. In the Gospel, Jesus reveals that sin goes much deeper than our outward actions.
Appearances can be deceiving. Paul asserts the foolishness of the cross that turns out to be wise and human wisdom that turns out to be foolish. And in the Beatitudes, Jesus challenges our perception of how and where to find God's blessing.
In the darkness, the light shines, and that light is the Christ. But God does not stop in simply giving us a light to illuminate our lives, but God also gives us a light to follow by calling us disciples. And what God says, is.
The Good News, embodied in Jesus, draws us in to be followers. We do not follow only for our own sake, however. In Isaiah, we hear how God's intent is for salvation to reach the ends of the earth.
Today's text proclaim to us who God is and what God does. In the Gospel, Jesus is baptized and is revealed to be God's Son, the beloved. In Isaiah, we see how God works through one for the sake of all.
In the beginning was the Word . . John’s Gospel begins. John 1 gives us a cosmic view of who Jesus is and, yet, still reveals Jesus to be among us. In Jesus, we see God and find God to be grand and cosmic, and close and personal and in whom we receive grace upon grace and through whom, Ephesians tells us, we are adopted as God’s children. Good news!
In this Gospel reading, we hear the weeping of parents as they mourn their children when Herod responds ferociously to the idea of a new king being born. But we also hear God's promise in Isaiah that "he became their savior in all their distress."
What God says, is. We see this as God's messenger, Gabriel, assures Joseph that a life with Mary is the life to which he is called, and when the child born to Joseph and Mary is named "Jesus," which means "the one who saves." And so he does. Emmanuel, God With Us!
Sometimes we wonder. John the Baptist is wondering today. In response to his doubts and wonderings, Jesus puts the promise of Isaiah into his ear and an announcement that the promise is now! It is good news that gives us hope.
In this second Sunday in Advent, we hear the voice of John the Baptist whose voice announces that God’s kingdom is near. What happens when the kingdom is near? Repentance. In Isaiah, even creation experiences new life that is not only new but re-ordered, re-structured. New.
On Christ the King Sunday, we see how Jesus uses his kingship: to die so that we would be forgiven. In forgiving sinners, Jesus builds a kingdom.
When scary things happen in the world and it looks like it may even be the end, Jesus provides a promise to hang onto and trust.
Once again, the religious leaders try to trip Jesus up by seeing how he will answer a difficult question. But Jesus is not about theoreticals; he is about mercy and grace, delivered in the here and now.
Jesus surprises everyone by choosing a sinner to host him for dinner. Generous grace begets a generous response.
Sometimes, the work of God is to put us in our place. Might it even be the building work of God? Jesus has this of surprising us.