The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.  –Jesus, speaking to Nicodemus. Nicodemus, called a leader among the Jews, came to listen to Jesus at night.  It’s an old assumption that he comes under cover of darkness in order not to be recognized – an educated scholar of the Torah and the prophets, going to hear a street preacher – what would... Read more

There are so very many ways to get lost.  And most of them include some kind of stumbling over love.  Even Jesus had to wrestle with what it meant to be loved, and he had to do it more than once. When the name Beloved washed over him at the Jordan, he didn’t get to bask safely in the gleaming medallion of it.   Matthew tells us (and Luke agrees) he was immediately driven into the wilderness, alone and beset by... Read more

And (Jesus) was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. – Matthew 17: 2-3 The Transfiguration tale is conventionally interpreted as an Easter tale, presented when Lent begins as a foretaste, a preview, of what will come at Lent’s end.  But my eye and heart are drawn toward Moses and Elijah, who are part of the shining, the dazzle white light... Read more

‘Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven’ – Jesus, in Matthew 6: 1 Piety, according to Webster, is the quality of being dutiful in religion.  Or, an act inspired by dutifulness in religion.  Or, a conventional belief or standard. Jesus, suspicious of piety, urges something different in us.  Lent will unfold with stories of him upbraiding the pious and bestowing incredible blessings... Read more

Of late (the last twenty years, say) evildoers have adopted the balaclava – a knitted head covering that hides the human face of robber, assassin, spy and terrorist, presenting a uniform mask of evil, the iconic black bad-guy to whom we are all accustomed.  You name it – from the thug in the corner store hold-up to political insurgents in the Caucasus threatening the Olympic games, the black balaclava is part of the dress code.  As soon as we see... Read more

Overcoming hostility is agonizing work.  Just look at Syria, the world’s best negotiators have their shoulders to that wheel, and so far the efforts of more than a year have moved the process an inch or two along.  Success is marked by getting everyone to agree to come to the next meeting.  Meanwhile the world trembles at the wailing anguish of the people of Homs and Aleppo. You have heard it said, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall... Read more

“She’s the salt of the earth!” It was a common blessing in my grandmother’s mouth, she would say it of a neighbor who was dependable in shouldering tasks, in helping people out.  My grandfather used that blessing for men he could rely on, the sort who help you out in a pinch, the neighbor who comes over to help you finish the shoveling, the kind who stand up at Meeting and volunteer to do things for the town.  They said... Read more

Blessed are you when you are poor, mourning, meek; hungering and thirsting for righteousness; merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers; persecuted, reviled, slandered with evil. Rejoice and be glad . . . . . These are not blessings I want. These are the experiences I am trying to avoid. Oh, I do admire the merciful and the peacemakers, but when I’ve been the one trying to make peace it has been agonizingly hard,  just being in the presence of the angers... Read more

In a murderous time, the heart breaks and breaks and lives by breaking. – Stanley Kunitz, in The Testing Tree When John was arrested, Matthew writes, Jesus fled.  He fled Jerusalem and the Jordan region, and even Nazareth, the town to which Joseph had brought him, his safe place since he was two.  In Capernaum, out of sight for the moment, Jesus begins calling disciples, who willingly follow him.  His purpose:  adding their voices to the proclamation of the dangerous... Read more

From Christmas to Lent, the gospels offer a walk through familiar mysteries, lights and signs.  The Star of Bethlehem, the baptismal Dove and the heaven-shouted name Beloved, disciples coming in the early days. All the gospels begin Jesus’ signs at the river, but they offer different pictures of what was going on and what happened next, what was shown and who saw it – all those details differ. Some say the devil is in the details.  Some say God is... Read more