Musings about Faith

Read all of Matthew 2 here: Matthew 2 "The Slaughter of the Innocents" by the peasants of the Solentiname Community in Nicaragua -  c. 1980's - A companion to Ernesto Cardinal's "The Gospel in Solentiname" Herod the King One of the great joys of Christmas is to hear the story and to be reacquainted with the many characters which have become beloved over the centuries – Mary, Joseph, Gabriel the Archangel, the heavenly host of angels, the shepherds and the Magi (Wise Men / Kings).   Even the animals that have become associated with the story have a place in our hearts.   But there is one important character in the story who is almost always ignored and this is King Herod the Great.   As the story of the birth is told in the Gospel of Matthew Herod is a central character and is the principal mover in chapter 2.   Chapter 2 of the Gospel of Matthew begins after the birth of Jesus, which is reported in the very last verse of cha

In the Silence of This Night    This past month has been a hectic one, has it not? Beginning on Thanksgiving we have all been frantically preparing for Christmas.  We all had stores to visit, places to go, people to see, things to buy, cards to mail, food to prepare and so on.  And so then, on this night, we are gathered to worship the God who is enfleshed in Jesus and who is laying quietly and peacefully in the manger in the far away cave in the hills around Bethlehem. But we have also come in the night to worship to Jesus who hangs from the cross on a hill called Golgotha.  The manger and the cross.  We need to see both together on this night!  In fact it is only by seeing them both together that we can truely understand and experience the depth and reality of the Gospel. The cross? Yes, the cross – that is ultimately what Christmas is all about - the cross of Jesus!    It is easy for us to get distracted from this.  It is partly the noise that surrounds this holiday

This year for a series of sermons for Advent have decided to take the suggestion of Dr. Barbara Lundblad and focus on the images which come out of the Isaiah texts for the season in year A.  Her suggestion is offered in this article found on the Working Preacher website: Barbara Lundblad   To read the Isaiah 7 text click here: Isaiah 7:10-16 Images of the Kingdom: The Crib King Ahaz of Judea (the Southern Kingdom) was in a tight spot.   Should he ally himself with Samaria/Israel (the Northern Kingdom) and Ephraim against Assyria?   Will this make him even more vulnerable?   And what about God-Yahweh? I can imagine his struggle was this: “If I ally myself against Assyria I risk utter destruction?   If I ally myself against Samaria I risk the wrath of God?”   What a choice!   In the midst of this nightmare the prophet/counselor Isaiah comes to King Ahaz and tells him to ask God for a sign.   And the King refuses! “Far be it from me to test God.”   Tha

This year for a series of sermons for Advent have decided to take the suggestion of Dr. Barbara Lundblad and focus on the images which come out of the Isaiah texts for the season in year A.  Her suggestion is offered in this article found on the Working Preacher website: Barbara Lundblad   To read the Isaiah 35 text click here: Isaiah 35:1-10   Images of the Kingdom: Streams in the Desert As I write this reflection this morning it is very cold outside.   Today is perhaps one of the coldest days we have experienced here in Southern Illinois in a while! So our image for this weekend is Streams in the Desert stand in profound contrast to our current weather conditions.   We, in fact, might today find ourselves longing for a desert right about now.   So perhaps we should try to lift our minds momentarily out of our cold, snowy and icy environment and picture a desert – the opposite of what we are in the midst of.   As we all know, a desert is a place

This year for a series of sermons for Advent have decided to take the suggestion of Dr. Barbara Lundblad and focus on the images which come out of the Isaiah texts for the season in year A.  Her suggestion is offered in this article found on the Working Preacher website: Barbara Lundblad To read the Isaiah 11 text click here: Isaiah 11:1-10 Images of the Kingdom: The Stump Have you ever noticed how no matter what happens you can never keep nature at bay?   For example, after a major forest fire, when acres and acres are nothing but black and charred remains, when it looks like an explosion had occurred and nothing remains, that all you have to do is give it a little time and a little rain and then watch and you will see little shoots of life begin to emerge.   It is not all destruction.   There is life there still and this life will reassert itself and reclaim the devastation in time.   We can see this same thing manifested in a whole variety of different scenarios.