This year, as I ponder Ash Wednesday, I remember the words of Dostoevsky, “The world will be saved by beauty.” Yes, there are ashes and there is mortality. There is a need for confession, contrition, and reparation. There is also the need for beauty that saves and transforms. A member of the Medicare generation for several years, I realize with each day that life is beautiful, but often too short. I read obituaries each day of persons my age, or... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The First Sunday in Lent – February 26, 2023 Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Psalm 32; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11 Lent is a complicated season. It is a time of reflection and penitence, of spiritual decluttering, inspiring the giving up certain goods for greater goods. Lent is also the season of simplicity. The season of getting back to basics, of spiritual focus, of going from the worship of many things to the worship of the One True Thing.... Read more
The Transfiguration of Jesus – February 19, 2023 Exodus 24:12-18, Psalm 2, 2 Peter 1:16-21, Matthew 17:1-9 BE TRANSFIGURED. Be transfigured and transformed! Transformation is possible for us, anytime and anywhere. The world abounds in divine glory, and so do you. Everyday life is a window into Infinity. Every moment is a thin place, revealing God’s glory. Though we may close our senses, the wonders of creation flow through every moment of experience. Transfiguration Sunday invites us to cleanse the... Read more
The Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany – February 12, 2023 Deuteronomy 30:15-20, Psalm 119:1-8, I Corinthians 3:1-9, Matthew 5:21-37 Today’s scripture readings reflect on life and death, joy and unhappiness, maturity and childishness in our spiritual lives and ethical decision-making. Death is not just a matter of physiology, it is also a matter of emotions, spirituality, and our institutional lives. Choosing the way of life brings joy and wholeness for ourselves and others. Choosing way of death puts our health,... Read more
The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany – February 9. 2020 Isaiah 58:1-12, Psalm 112:1-10, 2 Corinthians 1-16, Matthew 5:13-20 A popular saying challenges us to “go big or go home.” The Season of Epiphany is for big thinkers and big actors. Going beyond parochialism, Epiphany charts a global faith. The Season of Epiphany calls us to creative transformation and to move from self-interest to world loyalty. It is the time of God’s revealing – the revealing of God’s vision, the... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany – January 29, 2023 Bruce G. Epperly Micah 6:1-8 Psalm 15 I Corinthians 1:18-31 Matthew 5:1-12 Today’s scriptures turn our social norms upside down. The race is not always to the swift. The powerful don’t always win. Independence is a vice, and interdependence a virtue. Justice trumps profit and humility outlasts celebrity. Political power plays will end in ruin for politicians and their nations. Micah charts this week’s lectionary adventure. The... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The Third Sunday after the Epiphany – January 22, 2023 Bruce G. Epperly Isaiah 9:1-4 ; Psalm 27:1, 4-9; I Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23 Today’s readings capture the spirit of the magi, followers of Zoroaster, non-Jews who experience God’s revelation when the rightful religious leaders are oblivious. Foreigners and strangers and pioneers in inter-spirituality who worship God of Jesus, while remaining true to their own faith and ethnicity. Following the star, taking a chance on a... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – Second Sunday after the Epiphany – January 19, 2020 Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 41:1-11; I Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-42 The Second Sunday of Epiphany focuses on the nature of call. Life is a call and response in which God speaks to us in our gifts and in the events of our lives, and we respond, embodying God’s call in our own unique way. Our call is for us and our fulfillment. It is also for the world... Read more
The Baptism of Jesus – January 8, 2107 Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 29; Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 3:13-17 Epiphany is all about revealing the divine in expected and unexpected places. Today’s revelation is all about water, one of the most common and taken for granted aspects of first world life. Our tap water, flowing Jordan waters, waves on Cape Cod shores, the water of the womb, and the waters that nourish our crops and our bodies. Yet, water can be scarce in... Read more
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Adventurous Lectionary – God on the Move – Second Sunday of Lent – March 5, 2023
The Adventurous Lectionary – The Second Sunday in Lent – March 5, 2023 Genesis 12:1-4a (4b-9); Psalm 121; Romans 4:1-5; 13-17; John 3:1-17 In every season of the Christian year and every season of life, and beyond Christianity, God’s call is universal and ubiquitous. God is still moving and speaking, and faithfulness to God invites us to be on the move, too! God is alive and wants us to come fully alive, revealing God’s glory in daily life. THE CALL... Read more