There are passages of Scripture that comfort us, and there are passages that unsettle us. And sometimes, if we are willing to stay with them long enough, the unsettling passages may have more to teach us. Today’s Gospel is one of those passages. It begins with Jesus speaking about purity. The religious controversy of the […]

“So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me.” John 10:24-25 Our Gospel reading for […]

If I were to ask you to tell me the Christmas story from memory, with no peeking at Scripture, you would probably tell me the story we see portrayed in Christmas pageants. A very pregnant Mary travels to Bethlehem with her husband Jospeh because of a Roman census. The inns are full and so she […]

I’ve confessed from this pulpit before that the Gospel of John has never been my favorite of the four Gospels. Mostly this is because the Jesus portrayed in John’s Gospel is just too certain for me. He is too all-knowing to be convincingly human. For this life-long Episcopalian, the incarnation of Jesus, that he was […]