rick morley

One of the interesting features of Year A in the Revised Common Lectionary, is that Ash Wednesday’s traditional year-after-year Gospel lesson comes after five Sundays in Epiphanytide of Gospel lessons from The Sermon on the Mount. Unlike years B and C, we get to see the Ash Wednesday Gospel after hearing from the Great Sermon for over a month. We’ve been well-steeped in the Sermon this year, and it provides an interesting vantage point. The […]

After a person is baptized in an Episcopal Church, there is a prayer said for the newly baptized, which concludes like this: “Sustain them, O Lord, in your Holy Spirit. Give them an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works. Amen.” The gift of joy and wonder in all your works. We’ve […]

We are so familiar with Jesus’ command: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. What many aren’t as familiar with though, is that this command is a redaction of two Old Testament laws: Deuteronomy 6:5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Leviticus 19:18 Love your neighbor as yourself. We typically think of Jesus transcending the laws […]

Matthew 5:27-30 ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.” But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if […]

We recently took our daughters to see the movie “Tangled.” Now, having two little ones, we don’t get out much. My wife and I don’t see a lot of movies that aren’t animated and involve princesses, if you know what I mean. So, I went to see Tangled with my kids, hoping for an hour and a half of mindless oblivion, and not much more. But, “much more” is what I found. I was startled […]

There are certain sections of the Bible that modern Western culture has undoubtedly and unfortunately tamed. These wildly potent sections that we’ve castrated are easy to recognize: they’re the ones that we find needlepointed onto pillows, fleece throws, and the swollen bellies of teddy-bears. They’re the ones we find unashamedly emblazoned onto sweatshirts and t-shirts with an air brush. And, they’re usually found inconspicuously read by someone’s aunt at their mostly secular, but trying-to-hide-it-with-a-reading-from-the-Bible, wedding. […]

“What are you looking for?” Jesus asked. “Where are you staying?” was their reply. “Come and see,” said Jesus. Did you ever get called on in class, and get caught daydreaming? Not me. 😉 Or, even worse, have you ever been asked a question in class that you indeed heard as clear as a bell, but you had no idea – not a first clue – what ballpark an answer might even come from? The […]