Musings about Faith

Read the text here: John 20:19-31 Poor Thomas.  Over the last 2000 years we have come to know the disciple Thomas as “doubting Thomas” because of this one episode in the Gospel of John.  “Unless I see… and touch… and place my hands… I will not believe,” says Thomas.  One can hardly blame him.  After all, the other disciples have not exactly been paragons of faith.  Judas betrayed Jesus, Peter denied he even knew Jesus and the others?  Well, our text tells us they are hold up in a secret room hiding with the door locked!  Not exactly a testimony of great faith. These disciples (or at least some of them) had seen Jesus tortured and crucified.  They knew he was dead.  They had seen him do amazing miracles including raising Lazarus, and they had heard him predict his own resurrection.  But of course we know that they really didn’t seem to pay much attention to that.  And affecting ones own resurrection is quite a differe...

Read the text here: Mark 16:1-8 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James, and Salome brought spices, so that they might go and anoint Jesus.  And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. Mark 16:1-2 Jesus had constantly told his disciples, which included the 12, and some other followers including these women that he would be crucified and then he would rise on the 3 rd day.  The male disciples, of course, miss this point completely, and here, in the last chapter of St. Mark, it appears that the women also have not gotten the point either.  And so, they arrive at the tomb early on the first day of the week and there they find that the stone has been rolled away and a young man is sitting in an empty tomb dressed in white.  The young man speaks – Do no be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He has been raised; He is not here.  ...

Read the Passion from St. Mark -  Mark 14:1-15:47 Keeping Secrets Palm Sunday / Passion Sunday – which is it?  It used to be that we would celebrate the Sunday a week before Easter as Palm Sunday and that the entire service would be given over to this.  When the green LBW was issued in 1973 the Day became Palm Sunday/The Sunday of the Passion.  Some suggested that the reason was because so few people came to worship during Holy Week that including the Passion Narrative on Palm Sunday was the only way to make sure that the majority of people in our congregations experienced the Passion.  There is some truth to the fact that attendance at Holy Week services has dropped off in the last 20/30 years.  This is distressing because if we, as Christians, only experience the glory and celebration of Easter Sunday, we have missed most of the important parts of the story.  The fact is that Easter without Good Friday; Easter without the Passion of Chr...

Read the text here: Jeremiah 31:27-34 Covenant & Hope The prophet Jeremiah had railed against the leadership and the people of Judah for their unfaithfulness.  God had initiated a Covenant with them; God had made a promise, but the people had a responsibility to be faithful and they had failed miserably. But now the city of Jerusalem lay in ruins, the King and the leadership were either in chains or dead and, worst of all, the temple was destroyed. The people of Judah were now driven out of their land and taken to Babylon as slaves.  Everything looked dark.  Hope was dead.  The melody of the covenant had been snuffed out.  There was no future for what remained of Israel and Judah. Or, perhaps, there was hope.  The angry prophet Jeremiah changes his tune and now speaks words of comfort; The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.   Jeremiah takes up the t...

Read the text - Exodus 20:1-20 Rules of Engagement Our lives are shaped by rules and laws – are they not?   From the time we are very young we learn to live within rules.   “Don’t run in the hall; always look both ways; don’t talk to strangers.”   These are important rules. These rules keep our children safe, even if sometimes our children don’t like some of the rules.   But even as adults we live under rules and laws.   These are important for our society and for us as well. They keep our communities structured and safe.   I think it is safe to say that we as a whole have great respect for the law and for the rules of community.   And all we have to do is look at the banking/housing crisis from 2008 (of which we are still feeling the effects) to see what kind of pain and anarchy can occur when we either ignore or circumvent the rules or when there are not enough rules to properly guide and regulate.   We would think tha...

Read the texts: Mark 8:27-38 and Genesis 17:1-17 Doubt/Disappointment/Promise I am El Shaddai… I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous… You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations… And with these words from the beginning of Genesis 17, God again repeats and reminds Abram of his promise and of the covenant.   This is not the first time Abram had heard this promise.   The first time was in chapter 12 and this will continue for a while.   The years pass, Abram and Sarai get older and older, God repeats the promise and they continue on.   I can almost imagine Abram quietly rolling his eyes and thinking, “yeah, yeah, promises, promises!”   It is obvious that Abram and Sarai (as they are named at first) doubt this promise.   Abram says all the right things to God, but then his actions betray a lack of confidence in God’s promise. And then there is the laughter.   Abraham laughs at...

Lent I - Endings and Beginnings Back to chapter 1 on this the first Sunday in Lent.  We have heard this same text now probably 4 or 5 times since the 1 st Sunday in Advent.  But each time there is something new, something unique that emerges from the text.  I do believe, however, that this is the last time we will encounter this particular text in year B of the lectionary.  Finally, in Lent we will move into the remainder of the Gospel, because now that we are on the road to Jerusalem; the road to the crucifixion. Jesus’ ministry has now begun.  It has been a difficult beginning in many ways.  The pace is so fast in this Gospel that it is easy to read past some many important details.  And on this 1 st Sunday in Lent the focus is on the details that are contained in verses 14 and 15: Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to the Galilee proclaiming the Good News of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom has come near...