Tag: life
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Life after Birth
One of the perennial questions of the humanities is “What is a good life?” Religious studies ends up in the College of the Humanities in some universities because religion is fully absorbed in answering that question. At least, that’s one way of looking at it. Some Christians think of Christianity as being primarily about “life…
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Challenge
Jesus tells the rich young man that he still lacks one thing, despite or because of all he has. Jesus offers a remedy: “go, sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and then come, follow me.” The rich young man goes away grieving. Christians, especially us rich ones, have been doing…
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New Life
A sunny day, not too chilly. Some of us didn’t even need our coats. Birds singing all around. And people singing, too, albeit behind masks. Brilliant flowers from someone’s garden – already?! – around the base of the ancient pulpit that’s really more of a podium, the one from the old church (no, the one…
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Renewal and Recommitment
Easter is a big day in church world. The biggest. The cliché, familiar from religion text books and every newspaper ever, is that “Easter is the holiest day in the Christian year.” How we measure degrees of holiness may not be crystal clear – we don’t have anything like a geiger counter or a thermometer…
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Sixth Sunday in Easter
Today was about the flag. After months of discussion, in the congregation and Session and Worship Committee and back to Session, the decision about what to do about displaying the American and Christian flags that were donated by a member before we moved to the new (“new,” that is, 25-year-old) building from the church on…
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Easter Sunday
This morning started out foggy and damp, but ended up brilliantly sunny and warm. There were a dozen or so colored eggs in the landscaping by the front door of the church that hadn’t been there the last time – surprise! This gave the front of the church a bright, festive look. About a third…
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Out of Sight
Why would anyone start going to church? That is far from obvious. Not that there are no reasons for going to church, or no good reasons, or even no genuinely compelling reasons. I love church. I always have – if “always” can mean “ever since I was a little girl, not counting the twenty-odd years…
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Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Our class couldn’t help noticing the relevance of the story Jesus tells in Luke 16:19-31 to our own world. Today, as then, some people interpret material success as a sign of God’s favor. Today, as then, some people believe that anyone who’s destitute, suffering, sick, whatever, is that way because they’ve made bad choices, because…
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Sixth Sunday of Easter (& Holy Humor Sunday)
In class this morning, we investigated several of the themes of the texts of the day: providence, abundance, gratitude, participation (because the Israelites seemed to want to “have a hand in” the building of the Tabernacle, and there’s something about wanting to be part of something great that does seem to motivate generosity – and…
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Hello, Friend!
A lot of birds have visited the bird feeder outside the office window this spring, more than usual, for who knows what reason. We’ve attracted a brown-headed cowbird (not necessarily something to celebrate, but what can you do), and we’ve had a towhee hanging around, which in years past we’ve only ever seen in the…
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Second Sunday of Easter
Presumably, the class this morning discussed the significance of Jesus’ meal on the beach with the disciples, and our pastor shared yet more insight on the disciple Thomas’s encounter with the risen Christ, which turns up in the Sunday lectionary every year on the second Sunday of Easter. I confess I don’t know, because we…
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Christian Doctrine (15)
Summary notes on Christian Doctrine1 Chapter 15, “What’s New? The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit”: Moving on to the next paragraph in the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” The identity of the Holy Spirit is one issue. The Holy Spirit is personal – so, not something, but someone. There are also good…
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Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
[A sermon on Exodus 3:1-12, the Uniform Series text for Sunday, July 2, delivered at a small church in southern Indiana] Rashi, who is widely recognized as the greatest medieval Jewish commentator on scripture, says that when God tells Moses that “this is the sign by which you will know that it is I who…
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Shehecheyanu
The girls are graduating from high school. It has required delicate logistical negotiations, because their graduations are on the same day, and too far apart, so yesterday we drove seven hours (round trip) to see our niece graduate from technical school, and some of the family will come to our daughter’s high school graduation and…
Matters of Interpretation 