Relating, Creating, Transforming
Mark 9:2-10 Many Christians observe what is called Transfiguration Sunday, just before Ash Wednesday. Transfiguration is not a word we say a lot. It comes from the Greek word for metemorphothe, what we pronounce “metamorphosis.” Ongoing change. Of course, maybe you’ve heard or used the word transfiguration as it pertains to the spells of the […]
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John 7:37-39, Acts 2 Imagine this scenario: You are stranded on a remote island somewhere in the Pacific [no, not Waikiki] and you encounter another person on the island. You are overjoyed that you are not alone, except that both of you speak completely different languages and cannot understand what the other is saying. You […]
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Matthew 4:1-11 NRSV The 40 days of Lent, for Christians around the world, are an opportunity. Now I don’t know where you are in terms of Christian traditions or Lent. Maybe for you, Lent is a strange word that sounds like the small amount of fuzz in your pants pockets [i.e. lint] or the past […]
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Matthew 17:1-9 Change. Does this word scare you? Make you shiver? Excite you? Heighten your anxiety? Give you hope? Motivate you? Change. How does this word make you feel? It is not hyperbole to say that recently, in the United States, the word change for many does not have a positive connotation. A president addicted […]
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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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Exodus 34:29-35 and Luke 9:28, 29; 37, 38 What does it mean to have a shiny face? Okay, think about it. Shiny face is real. By midday, your face just might have a little sheen. It’s called sebum [combo of dead skin cells and lipids]. This sebum protects your skin from drying out. But it […]
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John 6:1-21 There is a good quote from the movie Signs, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. This is said during a scene in which a Pennsylvania family has just learned that creatures from another planet have started descending on earth. Their spaceships light up the sky all over the world. The father in […]
Read MoreEXODUS 14:15-16; 19-22 I grew up in Indiana and Iowa. Tornadoes happen there. I remember one day in the summer when I was a kid. I was walking home; this was in Indiana. The weather was so strange. Everything was eerily calm. It was like listening to music really, really loud and then someone pulls […]
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 MoreLuke 9:28-43 So the other day I was walking down the street in University City in Philadelphia, on my way to a meeting. It was cold [of course] and so people were hurrying to class, work, or wherever they needed to go without hesitating one bit. Who could blame them? It was cold. I admit […]
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