an Easter sermify
This really is my Easter sermon. So, if you were coming to St. Mark’s on Sunday, and you wanted to be surprised, well, this is your #spoileralert [View the story “possibility” on Storify]
All posts filed under: Holy Week
The spiritual discipline of joy #storify
[View the story “The spiritual discipline of joy” on Storify]
Easter, a reflection
Creation / Easter / Gospels / Holy Week / Jesus / Lectionary / New Testament / Religion / Soteriology / Year A
On the day of the resurrection, some of the followers of Jesus went to the tomb. They were going to make the final preparations of Jesus’ body, for he had been buried with haste. And when they got there, they were met with the amazing revelation that Jesus was…no longer dead. He was dead, but now he wasn’t anymore. He was very much alive. And different. Mary didn’t recognize him. He had to speak her […]
Good Friday, a reflection
Christology / devil / Easter / Gospels / Holy Week / Jesus / Lectionary / Lent / New Testament / satan / sin / Theology / Year A
I have this wonderful painting hanging in my office, “Cimabue after Disney” by the Rev. Dr. Dennis McNally, SJ. Jesus is muscled, teary-eyed, and dead. Blood trickles down his hands and feet. He’s also naked, and exposed just enough that that’s the one thing people notice when they see it for the first time. Subtly, at the bottom of the painting is a less-known feature. A mouse, with a dark halo, lapping up some of […]
Maundy Thursday, a reflection
“For as often as you eat this bread, and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death, until he comes.” We sometimes speak of Holy Communion as being a “memorial.” We use this language because Jesus himself said that we are to “do this in remembrance of him.” This is, I think, dangerous in our context because we have a weak understanding of what exactly constitutes “remembering.” We say we remember something when we recall […]
idle talk – a reflection on Luke 24:1-12
The following is a reflection on Luke 24:1-12, one of the Gospel lesson options for Easter Day, Year C, according to the Revised Common Lectionary. But these words seemed to them an idle tale The disciples thought they were offering an “idle tale?” Jesus, their Lord and friend, has died on Friday. It’s now Sunday. He had been offered up to the authorities by one of their own, who had just recently committed suicide. Women—other friends and […]
enough – a reflection on palm sunday
There’s a lot going on when Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. One of the things that amazes me is how he heads right into the belly of the beast.
Prayers of the People for Palm Sunday
no formula makes you fall to your knees – a reflection on Good Friday
In the history of Christian thought there have been many theories of how we are made at-one with God (atonement). One theory which we find referenced as early as the 500’s AD, called the “Ransom Theory,” or the”Classic Theory” suggests that because we are sinful that we actually belong to Satan. The Ransom theory, building itself on the verse from Paul, “you were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20) identifies Jesus’ death with his […]
a real meal – a reflection on Maundy Thursday
It’s interesting that while the Last Supper was an event that so obviously happened in the evening (it is a supper, after all), most of our commemorations of that event occur in the morning. On the night before Jesus died, he took bread…after supper he took the cup. But, the context in which we say those words and celebrate that meal today is usually far closer to breakfast. Brunch, at best.