Lent 2 Year A Genesis 12:1-4a Psalm 121 Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 John 3:1-17 At Diocesan Convention… in Dayton, OH… perhaps fourteen years ago… I was volunteering with Integrity… the Episcopal Church’s LGBT advocacy organization… and while I was at the booth… a deacon came up to me… when no one else was there… he...

Lent 1 Year A Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 Psalm 32 Romans 5:12-19 Matthew 4:1-11 Today’s Hebrew Scripture… about Adam and Eve and the serpent… brings to mind ideas about sin… and perhaps original sin… but neither the word sin… nor any synonym for it… appears in Chapters 2 or 3… and Chapter 3 doesn’t talk...

Ash Wednesday Year A Isaiah 58:1-12 Psalm 103:8-14 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 Matthew 6:1-6,16-21   There’s a movie from 2007… which tells a tale of friendship… betrayal… secrets… redemption… and reconciliation…  and woven into the soundtrack… is a song called Supplication… whose lyrics I believe… reflect the penitence of Lent… I’ve referred to them before…...

The Transfiguration Year A Exodus 24:12-18 Psalm 99 2 Peter 1:16-21 Matthew 17:1-9   The summer after I graduated from high school… in 1971… I went to Israel for eight weeks… it was my parent’s idea… and I went with about 90 other college students… who I think were all Jewish… because the trip...

Epiphany 6 Year A Sirach 15:15-20 Psalm 119 1-8 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 Matthew 5:21-37   Hello… my name is Mike… and I am a sinner… no matter what I do… or don’t do… I am a sinner… not because I want to be… not because of Original Sin… but because I am separated from...