Some of you have heard me describe the time that I visited Yellowstone National Park. It was the summer of the year 2000. A serious forest fire had burned in the park the previous summer which had been let to burn out of control. I attended a Park Ranger’s lecture on forest fires where I …
In the Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul recounts for us the summary of the law, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is found in both the Jewish Torah[1] and in the sayings of Jesus, recorded in all three synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke.[2] Paul is describing for the Romans the new life in Christ. …
From September 1 to October 4 (the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi), Christians around the world mark the Season of Creation, a relatively recent development in the liturgical calendar. The practice began in 1989 when Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I proclaimed September 1 a day of prayer for the environment. In 2000, a Lutheran congregation …
I remember the Sunday school picture coloring book with its rough rag paper. Maybe you do too. It’s a lovely image with baby Moses floating in his little woven basket, among the bulrushes at the edge of the river. And there’s the princess with her attendants, discovering the precious child in his little boat. The …
Bath, Maine is known as the City of Ships. The 10-mile stretch of the Kennebec River from Bath down to the open sea once hosted over thirty shipyards. The first known ship ever built in North America to sail to England was constructed at the mouth of the Kennebec in 1607—12 years before the Mayflower …
The recent release of the movie, Oppenheimer, has grabbed a lot of press and attention. It features J. Robert Oppenheimer who helped to develop the atomic bomb. It’s a sad irony of history that the first test of a nuclear weapon was code-named Trinity. According to Oppenheimer, the name was chosen from a poem by the Anglican …
By definition a parable is a simple story that literally means “to throw alongside.” The stories, often agricultural, were thrown alongside everyday experiences in order to shed light on the nature of God, and to exaggerate the contrasts between the way things are and the way God would have them be. The purpose was to …
In addition to the biblical readings for today, there is that other foundational text that is (or should be) on the minds of Americans this week. It begins: “When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another . . . …
It’s been a terrible week for children, families, and parents here in our area and in the state of Ohio. There was the news of a father who shot and killed his three sons. Then there was the mother who shot and killed her eight-year-old child and shot at (but missed) her teenage son before …
The Book of Genesis is a series of origin stories. Creation, how we came to have different languages; the history of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs: Abraham and Sarah; Isaac and Rebecca; Jacob, Leah and Rachael. Genesis means “Beginning.” It attempts to lay the groundwork for all that will follow. The history of the Hebrew people starts with …
