Letters On The Page

( image from Wikipedia Commons )  You may find a recording of the sermon and service here 2024-2-28 Wednesday in Lent – Nahum The text that is the basis of the homily is the prophet Nahum Let the words of my mouth, O Lord, and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.  During the course of our Wednesdays in Lent, we are focusing on the minor prophets from the Old Testament. Some of you will know that there is a distinction made between minor and major prophets.  One might get the sense that the major prophets are more important than the minor prophets. I am confident that the person who originated that distinction did not intend for anyone to think that one book of the Bible is more important than another. All 66 books of the Bible are God’s Word, equally important for our faith and spiritual development, and, as 2 Timothy 3:16-17 teaches us  16  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for repr...

 I am thoroughly enjoying the daily dose of poems and their commentary by Sally Thomas and Joseph Bottom in their new substack Poems Ancient and Modern.  You can sign up for your own daily dose here:  https://poemsancientandmodern.substack.com Today's poem is by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Wikipedia Commons   The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The tide rises, the tide falls, The twilight darkens, the curlew calls; Along the sea-sands damp and brown The traveller hastens toward the town, And the tide rises, the tide falls. Darkness settles on roofs and walls, But the sea, the sea in the darkness calls; The little waves, with their soft, white hands, Efface the footprints in the sands, And the tide rises, the tide falls. The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls; The day returns, but nevermore Returns the traveller to the shore, And the tide rises, the tide falls.

2024 Lent 2 (B)  Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16       Romans 5:1-11      Mark 8:27-38 “To Die For” When reading through the passage from Romans I suddenly had a song running through my head from yesteryear.  I am sorry to say that it was not a hymn or a camp song or even a part of the liturgy.  Good, Churchly, Christian music does regularly run through my head and pass through my lips. However, not this time. It happened somewhere along verses 6-8 of Romans 5.   6  For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7  For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—  8  but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.   The song, specifically, the refrain of the song, that was bouncing around and then taking me back into another decade...

The Text is all four chapters of Jonah.   2024-2-21 Minor Prophets with a Major Message: Jonah Like many of you, I encountered a version of the story of Jonah and the Big Fish in childhood.  But, when I studied the whole book as an adult, I wondered: Why is this episode in the life of the prophet Jonah in the canon of Scripture?  There are at least three answers to that question. The first is that the Holy Spirit wills it. The contents of these four chapters fit the description that is found in 2 Timothy 3:16-17  “ 16  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,   17  that   the man of God ]   may be complete,   equipped   for every good work.”   We learn much about God and how we are to respond to God’s mercy from the prophet Jonah. If we have ears to hear, we may find ourselves being corrected and being taught a proper kind of righteous...

2024 Lent 1          Genesis 22:1-18             James 1:12-18                Mark 1:9-15 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. Amen. It is unpleasant, some might even use a stronger word such as appalling, to be confronted with the reading from Genesis 22 as the first lesson of the day.  Wrapping one’s imagination around the horror of that command is no easy task. God actually commands Abraham to sacrifice his only son. This child, Isaac, whose name means laughter, because his arrival brought such joy to Abraham and Sarah, must now die at the hand of Abraham as a sacrifice to the Lord God. Abraham and Sarah have waited decades for this child to arrive. Truly, this is an impossible task.  The text doe...

Ash Wednesday and the Sacred Season of Lent The Holy Gospel for Ash Wednesday (St. Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21) sets before us several key practices of the Christian faith and life – namely,  fastin g ,  almsgiving , and  prayer  – which are appropriately intensified during the sacred Season of Lent. Undertaken as an exercise of faith and love in Christ, these fundamental Christian disciplines serve and support the Christian life and facilitate the fruits of repentance in all of our various relationships, callings, and stations. Fasting  is an exercise of self-denial, a conscious and deliberate resisting of our fleshly appetites (whether for food and drink or for other aspects of God’s good Creation). Such fasting stands in striking contrast to the grasping and eating of the forbidden fruit by Adam & Eve in the Garden, whereas it follows the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, who fasted forty days and forty nights in the wilderness and even then rejected the devil’s...

2024 Ash Wednesday  Joel 2:12-19         2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10          Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.  Ashes are the remnant of something that once was. The ashes in the fireplace are the remnants of the solid wood that was once a great tree. The ashes of the house that once stood at the corner, handsome, well-kept, a comfortable place for families to dwell, but now, due to fire, are all that remain.  Sifting through the ashes, one recalls the memories that were made in that place. When we find something that is recognizable, perhaps a picture frame or a toy, specific memories spring forth from the well of experiences.   When we consent to receive ashes upon our foreheads on Ash Wednesday, it is a sign and symbol that we are humbled before the Lord Almig...

2024-2-11 Transfiguration  2 Kings 2:1-12              2 Corinthians 3:12-13, 4:1-6              Mark 9:2-9  O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you my rock and redeemer. Amen.  Peter, James, and John are selected by Jesus to go with him up the mountain. A question we might ask is “Why these three?” “Why are these three men chosen to accompany Jesus up the mountain?” As we read the Gospels, we note that Jesus does single them out to witness events that the others are not privileged to see. In Mark 5, Jesus raises Jairus’ daughter. The daughter was dead.  When Jesus went into the room where she was laid, he only allowed Peter, James, and John to join him and the girl’s parents. The other disciples had to stay behind.  Again, after Jesus had instituted the Lord’s Supper, Jesus...

The following article is from President Stuckwisch's Earthen Vessels  column which may be found  here. Fifteen years ago, in July of 2009, when one of my young parishioners was applying to various colleges and considering where she might go to church in each case, I put together a list of ten things that she and other young people (and their parents) should look for in a church. I had long since forgotten about that list until recently, when a colleague mentioned that he had found it to be helpful and had shared it with other pastors and students. In going back to look at the pastoral counsel and advice I offered to those under my care at that juncture, it struck me that it might be helpful to others now, as well, both pastors and laity. If nothing else, it offers food for thought. So, with that in mind, here are ten important things that a Christian should look for in a church, listed more or less in order of their relative significance (beginning with the most important): Fa...

2024 Epiphany 5 – Isaiah 40:21-31             1 Corinthians 9:16-27           Mark 1:29-39 In the first article of the Nicene Creed, we confess that God created everything that exists, visible and invisible.  Long before that creedal statement was formed, Isaiah makes a similar confession, “The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.”  The LORD is above His creation.  He “sits above the circle of the earth, … he stretches out the heavens like a curtain.” The LORD is not content to reveal Himself to His creation  only  as a maker, a creator. He does not stand afar off admiring his creation, especially his human creation, as if we were a museum piece that is to be kept at a distance. The LORD chooses to interact with us. He has from the very beginning chosen to engage with us.  He did this in th...