Proper 27 | Ordinary Time 32 - A
David Kalas
If the pitcher spends too much time fingering the rosin bag or peddling the dirt on the mound or looking in at the catcher and shaking off signs, the batter is likely to ask the umpire for a timeout. Some of that is just gamesmanship, of course. At the same time, however, the batter may genuinely need to step out of the batter's box for a moment. It is, after all, a difficult thing to maintain for a long time the intensity of waiting for a pitch.
Likewise in a track meet. The runners are not expected to stay in their starting stance for a long period before the starter gun sounds. There's a focus and tension that come with that posture: the readiness to explode off the blocks at any moment. The body is poised, the muscles are taut, and the ears are attuned to the sound that...
Likewise in a track meet. The runners are not expected to stay in their starting stance for a long period before the starter gun sounds. There's a focus and tension that come with that posture: the readiness to explode off the blocks at any moment. The body is poised, the muscles are taut, and the ears are attuned to the sound that...
David Kalas
When I was in elementary school, the boy who was my best friend and favorite playmate at the time moved away with his family to Canada. It was a sad occasion for me. And it was sad for the rest of my family, as well, for my dad was friends with his dad, my mom was friends with his mom, and my sister was friends with one of his sisters. We all felt the loss.
Some time later, the family that had moved out of the country came back for a visit. Naturally, we were all very excited. And I still remember with surprising vividness the day of their arrival.
This was, of course, long before cell phones, GPS devices, and the various means we have of tracking where family members or friends may be at any given moment. Indeed, it was back in the day when a long-distance call...
Some time later, the family that had moved out of the country came back for a visit. Naturally, we were all very excited. And I still remember with surprising vividness the day of their arrival.
This was, of course, long before cell phones, GPS devices, and the various means we have of tracking where family members or friends may be at any given moment. Indeed, it was back in the day when a long-distance call...
Frank Ramirez
Okay, perhaps Ferris Bueller is not a biblical prophet, yet the longevity of the 1986 film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off suggests at the very least that it continues to amuse, entertain, and even educate people all these years later. Certainly, its quotability means some of its best lines have become part of our common wisdom.
One of my favorites is: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
These scriptures are written in the context of swiftly moving events, as the future becomes the present. We need to take a deep breath, slow down, and take a look at what’s going on, or we might miss the significance of what’s happening here.
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
Last week’s...
One of my favorites is: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
These scriptures are written in the context of swiftly moving events, as the future becomes the present. We need to take a deep breath, slow down, and take a look at what’s going on, or we might miss the significance of what’s happening here.
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
Last week’s...
Frank Ramirez
Agatha Christie’s mystery play The Mousetrap opened in 1952, and it has been running longer than any other drama. When the show is over the cast asks the audience not to reveal the surprise ending so that others can enjoy the play. For the most part that’s worked.
Wayne Brouwer
A well-rounded biblical moral lifestyle is established on four primary foundational principles:
Creational Norms: How did God intend for things to be?
• Here is where the portraits of life on earth in Genesis 1-2 establish the original dimensions of human behavior.
Restraint of Sin: What evil has infested the world that needs to be restrained and counteracted?
• Included in this category of scripture are the negative expression of the Ten Commandments and the laws for Israel. The point of these injunctions is to push back at the darker temptations and intentions of evil and depravity, even in the human heart. It is in this light that Joshua's final instructions to the Israelites in our Old Testament reading must be heard and read....
Creational Norms: How did God intend for things to be?
• Here is where the portraits of life on earth in Genesis 1-2 establish the original dimensions of human behavior.
Restraint of Sin: What evil has infested the world that needs to be restrained and counteracted?
• Included in this category of scripture are the negative expression of the Ten Commandments and the laws for Israel. The point of these injunctions is to push back at the darker temptations and intentions of evil and depravity, even in the human heart. It is in this light that Joshua's final instructions to the Israelites in our Old Testament reading must be heard and read....
Bass M. Mitchell
When my son was about four, he spotted my wedding ring on my finger and asked about it. I think he was also wondering why he didn't have one. So I got down our wedding album and showed him the pictures. One of those is a close-up of our hands, side by side, wearing those rings. I told him this was something that people wore when they got married to help them remember the special promises they made to each other -- like to love, honor, cherish, respect, be faithful....
In every wedding ceremony I perform, I always say something like this in regard to the rings:
Wedding rings are very special. They are a visible symbol of your love and your commitment. Today you will wear them for the first time as husband and wife. Each day after this when you see them, let them...
In every wedding ceremony I perform, I always say something like this in regard to the rings:
Wedding rings are very special. They are a visible symbol of your love and your commitment. Today you will wear them for the first time as husband and wife. Each day after this when you see them, let them...
When my son was about 4, he spotted my wedding ring on my finger and asked about it. I think he was also wondering why he didn't have one. So I got down our wedding album and showed him the pictures. One of those is a close up of our hands, side by side, wearing those rings. I told him this was something that people wore when they got married to help them remember the special promises they made to each other -- like to love, honor, cherish, respect, be faithful....
In every wedding ceremony I perform, I always say something like this in regard to the rings:
Wedding rings are very special. They are a visible symbol of your love and your commitment. Today you will wear them for the first time as husband and wife. Each day after this when you see them, let them remind...
In every wedding ceremony I perform, I always say something like this in regard to the rings:
Wedding rings are very special. They are a visible symbol of your love and your commitment. Today you will wear them for the first time as husband and wife. Each day after this when you see them, let them remind...
One of the problems we have as humans is the fact that we are bound by time, live in the finite, are limited by our physical nature and its demands, and spend most of our time trying to deal with this. We have to eat, sleep, rest, make a living, etc. Our own concerns almost overwhelm us. In fact, they do consume us to the point where we can begin to conclude this is the whole of life, that meeting those needs associated with our physical and mental lives is all that is important.
It is not easy for us to shift gears and to think spiritually -- to be concerned with matters of relationship to God, spiritual growth, sustenance for the inner person, ethical considerations, unselfish responses to life and to others, and to think of life on any plane other than what confronts...
It is not easy for us to shift gears and to think spiritually -- to be concerned with matters of relationship to God, spiritual growth, sustenance for the inner person, ethical considerations, unselfish responses to life and to others, and to think of life on any plane other than what confronts...
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