Entering In

Lent – Year A – Matthew 4:1-11 All of us need wake-up calls and the opportunity to start over, which is some of what Lent offers to us. From Ash Wednesday’s sober reminder that we come from a common source, that in our very substance we are the same—no more than, or less than, good […]

New Understandings

Transfiguration Sunday – Year A – Matthew 17:1-9 One of the most attractive temptations is not to understand something but to keep talking about it anyway. If we keep talking, maybe we will reach a point of greater understanding. We might form a discussion group on the subject, or conduct a survey, or brainstorm possible […]

Healing the Divide

Epiphany – Year A – Matthew 5:38-48 From the beginning of his ministry, Jesus seeks to bring together what has been divided. Not to balance the opposites. Not to teach us to see one another as separate but equal and to encourage us to practice greater tolerance and acceptance. More than tolerance, he wants to […]

We Know What We Know

Epiphany – Year A – Matthew 5:21-37 Jesus reminds us that we already know what we need to know. We already have heard the Ten Commandments and memorized the Golden Rule and know we should put them into practice in our affairs. “But I say to you” … there’s more. The outer practices need to […]