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Reflections on the “Name that is above every name…”

Read the text here: Philippians 2:1-13 This weekend we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus.  This is a festival that does not land on Sunday very often and it provides us with a wonderful opportunity to consider the Holy Name of God and the Holy Name of Jesus – in whom we are baptized and in whom we have our calling, our purpose and our very lives as Christians.  Therefore I would like us to consider two of our lessons and lay them side by side – Psalm 8 and Philippians 2:1-13. O LORD, our lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth. (Psalm 8:1, 9)   Actually the first two words of this Psalm are “O Yahweh, our lord” which immediately reminds us that God has a name and that name is Yahweh.  Out of respect, however, this name is never spoken – especially among the ancient Israelites.  The word “LORD” (spelled with capital letters) is spoken instead, even though the name Yahweh appears in the Hebrew.  Now what does the name itself mean, and what does it t

Reflections on the Christmas Gospel – Luke 2:1-20

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Read the Christmas Gospel here: Luke 2:1-20 Fear Not! And there were shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over their flock by night; and lo the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shown round about them and they were sore afraid.   And the angel said until them, fear not, but behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people!   For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord! Fear not!?!   Are they kidding?   These poor shepherds on night shift have the job of watching and protecting their sheep during the night.   They have to be alert. Being a 1 st century shepherd could be described as hours of boredom, interspersed with moments of terror.   For in the darkness it would be very easy for a predator to sneak up undetected and attack the flock and do significant damage before the shepherd could do anything about it.   And we need to remember that these flocks represented someone’s wealth

Reflections on the texts for Advent IV - "Bread"

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Read the Gospel - St. Mark 2:23-28 And Mary said... "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."  (Mary's Song - The Magnificat - Luke 1:46-55) Bread! We begin our reflection on this Gospel passage back in Genesis – Genesis 41.  The Pharaoh of Egypt has been having dreams – s

Reflections on the Gospel – Mark 1:4-15 - Walking Through the Wilderness of this World

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Read the text here: Mark 1:4-15 Walking Through the Wilderness of this World Have you ever noticed that a lot of the stories in the bible are set in the wilderness?  Now to be clear, we are talking about wilderness, Middle East style. Not the American wilderness.  As rustic as the American wilderness might be, for the most part the American wilderness is still a fertile place.  The American wilderness is a place of woods and game, vegetation and a myriad of animals; a place, while not without risk, where nevertheless one could survive for a time (if you know how). The wilderness of the bible, to the contrary, is the wilderness of the Middle East and is not such an inviting place.  The wilderness of the bible is a place of complete desolation; a place with little to no vegetation or water, few animals; it is a desert environment with extreme temperatures.  This is a place where one would be hard pressed to survive for any length of time.  But yet, this place figures imp

Reflections on the Gospel - Mark 1:1-8

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Read the text here: Mark 1:1-18 Beginnings and Endings The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1) As beginnings go, there is really not much here.   In the Greek there are exactly 5 words that are followed by words of the prophet that introduces John the Baptist and there we are: immersed in the story.   No extended introduction with a genealogy (Matthew), no birth or childhood stories (Matthew & Luke), no extended philosophical musings on the incarnation (John).   Nope, Mark is short and sweet and to the point.   Mark is in a hurry to tell this story; Mark is in a hurry to get to the climax = the Passion.   From this non-beginning beginning Mark jumps from event to event in Jesus’ life and ministry at a fast pace.   There are no extended sermons and there is really no time to catch your breath.   After all, Mark is proclaiming the “Gospel,” the “Good News,” the “Glad Tidings” of Jesus Christ, the Son of God! But that one w

Reflections on the Gospel – Mark 13:24-37

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Read the text here: Mark 13:24-37 Keep Awake! Be Prepared! The Lord is coming! These themes of the season of Advent are also themes of this passage in the Gospel of Mark.  Last week we finished our experience of the Gospel of Matthew with the prophecy of the Sheep and the Goats from Matthew 25; this week we begin our year of Mark with a passage from the heart of what is called the “Little Apocalypse” in Mark.  Last week Matthew gives us a rather unambiguous teaching on the Last Judgment and the centrality of Faith in Action; this week Mark gives us a very ambiguous look into the future to the Day of the Lord and what our response is to be.  What in the world is this all about? First, a definition is in order - the word: Apocalypse.  The word itself comes from a Greek word which literally means “lifting the veil” or “revelation.”  The first of these definitions is especially important and relevant for Mark because the climactic event in Mark’s telling of the story of Jesus i

Reflections on the Gospel of Mark

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…and just as he was coming up out of the water, her saw the heavens torn apart … (Mk. 1:10) …and the curtain of the Temple was torn in two… (Mk. 15:38) Advent is here and begins this coming weekend, and with Advent comes a shift in the lectionary readings on Sunday morning from the Gospel of Matthew to the Gospel of Mark.   So for Advent 2011 and all of 2012 (to the end of November) our Gospel readings will come primarily from the Gospel of Mark (with a little John thrown in here and there).   Mark is unique in a variety of ways and this year of Mark provides us with important opportunities for growth and understanding.   Mark is considered to be the earliest Gospel of the three synoptic Gospels and was probably written around the time of the Jewish War that eventually culminated in the annihilation of Jerusalem and the complete destruction of the Temple.   This was a very difficult time for Jews and Christians alike living in Israel.   When the dust finally settled the J

Reflections on the Gospel – “The Sheep and the Goats” Matthew 25:31-46

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Read the Text Here:  Matthew 25:31-46 Surprise!!! We have come to the last Sunday of the church year and the last Sunday of our year of Matthew.   This Sunday is also celebrated as the Feast of Christ the King or the Feast of the Reign of Christ.   The text is the prophecy of the sheep and the goats and is a judgment prophecy.   The context of this passage is important in that it is contained in the very last teaching discourse that is contained in Matthew.   Immediately following this – in chapter 26 – we move into the passion narrative. This is important to recognize this on a day in which we are celebrating the “Kingship” of Jesus for Kingship looms large in the Gospel of Matthew.   The kings of this world (like Herod in Chapter 2) are enthroned in glory and splendor and have power and authority concentrated in them.   Some of them were considered to be gods.   But Jesus, our King, is enthroned on a cross, wearing a crown of thorns.   Jesus does hold the aut

Reflections on the Parables – Matthew 25:14-30 – The Parable of the Talents

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Read the text here: Matthew 25:14-30 End of the Road - Beginning of the Journey Well, we have come to the very last parable of the year! The text for next week is more of a prophecy (the sheep and the goats) than a parable.   But we finish our 6-month look at Jesus’ parables with this Parable of the Talents.   So before we look more closely at this particular parable I want to make a couple observations about parables in general.   1 st – All of the parables are parables of the Kingdom of God, which through Jesus has come into our midst.   The Kingdom of God (or in Matthew the Kingdom of Heaven) is not off in the future – it is now! 2 nd – All of the parables give us a glimpse of who God is and how God chooses to relate to us.   And the words that describe this would include – overflowing love and abundant grace; 3 rd – the parables all call on us to respond to God’s overflowing and sometimes crazy and illogical love and grace by living lives that reflect the K

Relfections on the Parables - Matthew 25:1-13 - The Parable of the Wise & Foolish Maidens

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Read the Parable here:  Matthew 25:1-13 Be Prepared! Watch and wait! Be prepared for delay – a long delay! Don’t be caught unprepared! These appear to be the central themes of our Gospel parable for today. The parable of the 10 Bridesmaids is perhaps one of the best known, but also one of the most difficult of all of Jesus’ parables. Perhaps this is because it really takes aim at us modern Christians – right where we are most vulnerable: the pace of life! On the one hand we live in a very fast-paced and impatient world.   We hate waiting; we are uncomfortable with silence. We need to have something going on all of the time. We get impatient with waiting at the doctor’s office or standing in long lines or with an internet connection that isn’t as fast as we would like.   We can hardly wait – we can hardly stand to wait!   But then on the other hand we are procrastinators. I don’t feel like it.   I’ll do it tomorrow. I’ll finish that model with my son tomorrow, I