Relating, Creating, Transforming
Exodus 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 15:10-28 This week I was taking with a guy I know who works in a store that I shop in frequently. He and I always have funny or interesting conversations. This time, we were joking about his nickname and his favorite superhero, and then, he told me an unexpected story that I will now […]
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 MoreJohn 11:1-45 Now look, I don’t know if you watch The Walking Dead on television or if you’re into zombie movies like Night of the Living Dead, REC, Dawn of the Dead, World War Z, or 28 Days Later. I am not sure if the idea of a once-dead human being rising from death to […]
Read MoreJohn 4:5-26 What are some specific places or activities that cause you to feel the presence of G-d? Where or when is God especially absent from you? Where do we think that God or the Divine or the Great Spirit or the Eternal Consciousness is? Here? [Sikh Gurdwara] Or here? [Hindu deities] Or here? […]
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 […]
Read MoreMatthew 17:1-9 On April 3, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. addressed a large crowd inside a church in Memphis, Tennessee. He spoke about the history of the struggle for civil rights in the United States and the difficult days ahead. Towards the end of his sermon, King raised his voice as he was known to […]
Read MoreMatthew 4:12-23 Women fishing in Bangladesh Here’s how this story goes: Jesus just got tested in the wilderness. He then returns to Galilee after his cousin John is arrested for eating too many locusts; or something like that. Then Jesus finds two willing fishermen and begins an adventurous journey with them. This story originates in […]
Read MoreJohn 1:29-42 We form memories in our heads of events and people—long after the moment passed or the person passed. These memories, uniquely ours and certainly not entirely accurate—become the reality we place on that event or person. I can tell you plenty of stories about my childhood and adolescence—even a story from a few […]
Read MoreMatthew 2:1-12 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men[a] from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising,[b] and have come to pay him homage.” 3 When King Herod […]
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