Proper 14 | Ordinary Time 19 - A
R. Craig Maccreary
The longer I go in life the more I become fascinated with words: how we use them, where
they come from, how their use changes over the years. The Christmas carol, "Deck The
Halls" now takes me to a different place when we get to the line, "Don we now our gay
apparel." I don't mean to be overly cute, rude, or crass but it is an example of how
language can go off in directions that we never anticipated.
David Kalas
I grew up as a football-and-basketball guy, but the girl I married came from more of a tennis-and-golf family. The only golf I had played prior to vacationing with her family was the kind of golf that features windmills, bumpers, and loops.
Never having played on a real golf course before, I found it quite intimidating. As I tried to do what I had never done before, however, I gained a new appreciation for the skill of the people who were good at it.
At first, my natural admiration was for the folks who could hit a good shot off the tee. That's where a golfer is likely to get his greatest distance, and a good tee shot can be a beautiful thing to behold. Likewise, I was very impressed by the folks who could go long and straight off the fairway.
As I...
Never having played on a real golf course before, I found it quite intimidating. As I tried to do what I had never done before, however, I gained a new appreciation for the skill of the people who were good at it.
At first, my natural admiration was for the folks who could hit a good shot off the tee. That's where a golfer is likely to get his greatest distance, and a good tee shot can be a beautiful thing to behold. Likewise, I was very impressed by the folks who could go long and straight off the fairway.
As I...
David Kalas
When I was a little boy, my dad would sometimes sing me to sleep at night, and he would usually sing hymns. I wonder, in retrospect, how many hymns I learned before I ever saw them printed on a page, for they were first imprinted on my young heart by the hearing of them. And one of the favorites was James Rowe’s “Love Lifted Me.”
The song is written as a first-person testimony. “I was sinking deep in sin, / far from the peaceful shore, / very deeply stained within, / sinking to rise no more; / but the Master of the sea / heard my despairing cry, / From the waters lifted me, / now safe am I.”1 Then the chorus goes on to revel in the affirmation that “when nothing else could help, love lifted me!”
The song is written as a first-person testimony. “I was sinking deep in sin, / far from the peaceful shore, / very deeply stained within, / sinking to rise no more; / but the Master of the sea / heard my despairing cry, / From the waters lifted me, / now safe am I.”1 Then the chorus goes on to revel in the affirmation that “when nothing else could help, love lifted me!”
Wayne Brouwer
Once when Henrik Ibsen, the Norwegian playwright, was traveling in Rome, he noticed a crowd of people gathered around a large red poster. They were talking rather excitedly among themselves about the message it announced, so he reached into his coat pocket for his eyeglasses. Only then did he realize that he’d left them back at his hotel.
So he turned to the fellow next to him. “Sir,” he said, “could you please tell me what that sign says? I’ve forgotten my glasses.”
“Sorry, Signore!” said the other, with a knowing look in his eyes. “I don’t know how to read either.”
Eyes are marvelous windows. Jesus called them the lamp of the body. Emerson said that a person’s eyes “indicate the antiquity of the soul.” George Herbert spoke of the power of the eyes...
So he turned to the fellow next to him. “Sir,” he said, “could you please tell me what that sign says? I’ve forgotten my glasses.”
“Sorry, Signore!” said the other, with a knowing look in his eyes. “I don’t know how to read either.”
Eyes are marvelous windows. Jesus called them the lamp of the body. Emerson said that a person’s eyes “indicate the antiquity of the soul.” George Herbert spoke of the power of the eyes...
David Coffin
In an effort to challenge my own faith along my spiritual journey, I explored a book about “theodicy” (God’s justice, why do the righteous suffer?) from a non-human creation point of view. Christopher Southgate’s book Groaning of Creation: God, Evolution, and the Problem of Evil (Westminster John Knox Press, 2008) has some disquieting suggestions as to why tsunamis and hurricanes kill people and destroy property. God works through evolution and survival-of-the-fittest patterns. “[T]he forces that gave rise to earthquakes and other natural disasters are the very forces that made this biosphere possible” (Southgate, p. 38). Humans play a small role in what Southgate calls the “scaffolding” of periods of time when the universe makes seismic changes that result in natural disasters (...
Wayne Brouwer
One Chinese word-symbol for "doubt" is a caricature of a person with each foot in a different canoe. If the waters are calm and the canoes are tied securely, it is possible for the person to stand like that indefinitely. But if those canoes are adrift on the swelling tides of the sea or scrambling down the whitewaters of a raging torrent, someone positioned so precariously would topple quickly.
Cecil Beaton pictures it well in his short story "The Settee." Violet and Dorothy prowl an antique shop and find a marvelous old French style long wooden bench called a settee. Dorothy thinks it is "Louise-Seize," and therefore extremely valuable. When she finds that she can get it for a very inexpensive price, she convinces Violet to allow her to buy it as a gift for Violet.
Cecil Beaton pictures it well in his short story "The Settee." Violet and Dorothy prowl an antique shop and find a marvelous old French style long wooden bench called a settee. Dorothy thinks it is "Louise-Seize," and therefore extremely valuable. When she finds that she can get it for a very inexpensive price, she convinces Violet to allow her to buy it as a gift for Violet.
David Kalas
Schuyler Rhodes
A whole generation is growing up now with no knowledge of those little stickers we used to keep on our phones that listed the phone numbers of local police and fire departments. We have our phones with us everywhere now, they have their own built-in directories, and we are spoiled by the simplicity of 9-1-1.
Our family has had to call 9-1-1 on a few occasions. When you're in the midst of some emergency situation, it's a great peace of mind to know that someone is there who can dispatch virtually whatever you so urgently need. Of course, every so often we hear unhappy stories about a 9-1-1 operator who failed to do their job properly, but those incidents are so very rare. There are just enough to remind us of how fortunate we are.
For what if we called out and...
Our family has had to call 9-1-1 on a few occasions. When you're in the midst of some emergency situation, it's a great peace of mind to know that someone is there who can dispatch virtually whatever you so urgently need. Of course, every so often we hear unhappy stories about a 9-1-1 operator who failed to do their job properly, but those incidents are so very rare. There are just enough to remind us of how fortunate we are.
For what if we called out and...
One of the tasks that I always squeeze somewhere into my day is to read the newspaper. Some days I slowly peruse not only the articles but the ads. Other days it seems I hastily scan headlines and lead paragraphs in only two, maybe three, of its sections. Yet it seems a waste to consign a complete paper to the recycling bin without it ever having been opened, and so no matter how hectic the day I find some time to "read the paper."
The one section of the paper that I unfailingly read every day is the "Educational" section. What? You mean you didn't know that the newspapers have a daily educational section? Oh, I admit that truth-in-labeling laws notwithstanding that they don't call it an "educational" section, but every day you will find it in the under the heading "Comics."...
The one section of the paper that I unfailingly read every day is the "Educational" section. What? You mean you didn't know that the newspapers have a daily educational section? Oh, I admit that truth-in-labeling laws notwithstanding that they don't call it an "educational" section, but every day you will find it in the under the heading "Comics."...
The walking on water jokes abound. Typically they involve three people out in a boat, one of them invited by the other two who normally have nothing good to say about her. Yet when one laments that he forgot his lunch, she offers to go back to the shore to get it. As she disembarks the row boat, she steps onto the water and walks across the lake toward the car. The one disgusted man says to the other, "Look at that! She can't even swim."
Another version tells that when she started walking across the lake, one of the men tried to follow her. But with his first step onto the water, he went under. Emerging with gasps for air, the almost-drowned man asks, "What happened?" His friend says, "She knows where the stones are."
The story about Jesus in our Gospel certainly...
Another version tells that when she started walking across the lake, one of the men tried to follow her. But with his first step onto the water, he went under. Emerging with gasps for air, the almost-drowned man asks, "What happened?" His friend says, "She knows where the stones are."
The story about Jesus in our Gospel certainly...
To believe is not very complicated. From Genesis to Revelation it is described as a simple act that shows trust. Jesus suggests that children are our best teachers in our search to understand what it means to believe.
But if faith is simple, it is also challenging. Faith calls for more than intellectual assent to a formula. Genuine faith is a response that shows itself in what we do.
That idea is inherent in the texts for this Sunday. Though several brothers think it is best to kill Joseph, two disagree. Whether it is so much an act of faith or simply concern for their father, Judah and Reuben find a way to spare their favored brother. Given the future importance of Joseph in the unfolding story of God's people, the efforts of these two brothers to save the life...
But if faith is simple, it is also challenging. Faith calls for more than intellectual assent to a formula. Genuine faith is a response that shows itself in what we do.
That idea is inherent in the texts for this Sunday. Though several brothers think it is best to kill Joseph, two disagree. Whether it is so much an act of faith or simply concern for their father, Judah and Reuben find a way to spare their favored brother. Given the future importance of Joseph in the unfolding story of God's people, the efforts of these two brothers to save the life...
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