Relating, Creating, Transforming
Luke 4:1-13 What does it mean for you to be yourself? Think about that for a moment. What does it mean for you to be yourself? For Christians, the season of Lent began with Ash Wednesday. Lent is a period of 40 days [not counting Sundays]. The forty days of Lent is about one tenth […]
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Isaiah 60:1-5 (NRSV) Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up […]
Read MoreOn Tuesday, May 12th, 2015, I was honored to be the guest speaker at Won Buddhist Temple. You can learn more about their community and Won Buddhism by clicking here and here. How does one know him/herself? A good and complicated question, am I right? How do we know ourselves? A simple answer would be: […]
Read MoreMatthew 22:15-22 Lions and tigers and bears—oh my! But in this case, it’s money and religion and politics—oh my! Yes, that’s right. It’s time to talk about these SCARY things. It IS almost Halloween, after all. Let’s talk about money, first, which leads to politics, which leads to religion! Jesus of Nazareth probably wouldn’t be […]
Read MoreExodus 3:1-7; 11-15 Friday marked the beginning of the Ganesha Festival for Hindus around the world. Ganesh Chaturthi festival honors Lord Ganesh[a], the form or deity that represents intellect and wisdom. The son of goddess Parvati, Ganesh is identified by his elephant head. The festival is 10 days of music, drums, prayers, dancing, and food. […]
Read MoreMatthew 16:13-20 I’ve been reading Bart Ehrman’s book, How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee, over the last few months. I’m taking my time. It is a book that I think people who identify as Christians should most certainly read. It took Ehrman, a NT scholar, eight years to research […]
Read MoreMatthew 14:22-33 The Hobbit, a book by JRR Tolkien, begins with this line: “in a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” The author Tolkien lets us the reader know that this is not a nasty or unkempt hole, like the lair of a mouse, but rather a cozy place, filled with fine furniture, […]
Read MoreMatthew 21:1-11 Hosanna, Hey-sanna, Sanna, sanna, ho! I am conditioned at this time of year to hear that song and to see the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, because I actually saw the original Jesus Ted Neely perform in a live stage version a long time ago. For some reason, it stayed in my mind. […]
Read MoreJohn 9:1-41 The Temptation, Hugo van der Goes, 1470 What is sin? Man, what a complicated question that is! Of course, there is no way to address such a question in a short time. But it will be helpful to start with the English word itself and work backwards. So let’s do some etymology of […]
Read MoreJohn 3:1-9 Last week, I participated in the Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia’s Interfaith Encounters Alternative Spring Break program for college students. I journeyed with students, faculty, and college staff professionals to encounter seven different religious traditions, including: Reconstructionist Jewish; Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Christian; Sikh; Quaker; Won Buddhist; Hindu; Black Muslim and Sunni Muslim. There […]
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