The Rev. Karen B. Johnson Last summer I was having a dish of pistachio ice cream down in Round Pond with a friend who has a knack for weather lore. We were sitting on a bench overlooking the harbor when clouds appeared in rows something like mackerel scales. And my friend quickly launched into a […]
Have you ever asked yourself why you come to church week in and week out? I once asked a group of adults this question and their answers were as varied as the people in the room. I wrote their answers down, and I still have the list: It is just something I have always done, […]
Of the four Gospels, the Gospel of Luke has the most to say about wealth, its effects on those who possess it, and what those with more than they need for basic necessities should do with their excess. Throughout this Gospel we see Jesus bringing hope and good news to the impoverished and warning to […]
Very early on in my ordained life I preached a sermon on our Gospel passage for this morning that basically said, “persistence in prayer pays off.” My message was keep knocking and God will give you what you ask for. It wasn’t a very good sermon, and it was bad theology, but well, what can […]
Many years ago, when I was serving in the Diocese of Delaware, I attended a clergy day in which we were to determine our spiritual personality type. I believe there were four possible personalities that we could be—Mary, Martha, Jonah, and a fourth that I can’t remember. I have absolutely no memory of which spiritual […]
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first […]
We are living in a difficult time, a time in which it is very easy to become despondent and discouraged. Global pandemics, threats to the foundations of our democracy, our growing awareness of the ways that our very culture is infused with white privilege and supremacy, gun violence and mass shootings, the growing gap between […]
On this day, Trinity Sunday, I am not going to attempt to explain the Trinity to you, for I can’t. The doctrine of the Trinity, that God is one God and three persons all at the same time is not explainable. It is a human attempt to explain that which is beyond human explanation—the Divine. […]
Fear. I would imagine that this was the primary emotion floating around that upper room in Jerusalem more than 2000 years ago. This small band of Jesus followers have been on quite a rollercoaster. For a few years they ardently listened to and followed Jesus. He gave them hope and courage in a time when […]