Author: admin
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Love
We think we know what love is, but today’s readings remind us of its many dimensions. Today in the Gospel of Mark, we read the familiar great commandment, as Jesus answers what is clearly asked as a test: “‘The Lord our God , the Lord is one: you shall love the Lord your God with…
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Restored
Job 42: 1-6, 10-17. Today we reach the end of the book of Job. Job, having listened to God’s assertion of their primacy, acknowledges his ignorance. “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” (42:3) The lectionary moves on, skipping verses 7-9, and recounts how…
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Where were you?
Job thinks he’s been hard done by. After all, he was a righteous man, who did good, and followed God’s commandments. But since God’s deal with Satan, misfortune has overtaken him, and he doesn’t understand why. His friends are no help, suggesting maybe he really deserved it, if he’d done this or that differently he’d…
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My God, My God, why have you forsaken me
The psalm for today is Psalm 22, whose first verse Jesus cries out from the cross. The despair mirrors the despair of Job, who in todays reading (Job 23:1-9, 16-17) laments that he cannot find God. In spite of his prayer, God’s hand is “heavy”. Prayer is not a magic spell, and the prayer of…
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The exact imprint of God
According to Hebrews 1:3, Christ is “the exact imprint of God’s very being”. In our Baptismal covenant, we are asked if we promise to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself”. Since we recently celebrated a baptism, I made connections between these readings. If Christ is the exact imprint of…
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Praying for . . .
“Pray for one another, so that you may be healed.” (James 5:16) Reading this in September 2021, after 18 months of COVID-19, made us think today about what we’re praying for when we pray. We have seen plenty of evidence that we can’t pray ourselves out of a pandemic, or to heal from a virus.…
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Pentecost
For Pentecost, we are delighted to welcome Rev. Linda Huggard. A California native, Rev. Huggard has served in the Diocese of San Joaquin for 10 years, and has recently retired as Priest in Charge of St. Michael’s, Ridgecrest. She is currently serving as a supply priest in the diocese. She lives in Elk Grove.
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Living as an Easter People
The season after Easter is one where we are constantly asked to think about what it means to live after the Resurrection. What does it mean to how we live? The lessons keeps reminding us that the disciples were as puzzled as we are at times: rushing off to meet Jesus, or terrified by his…
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Welcome for Easter
On Easter Sunday, we welcome Rev. Tim Vivian, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at CSU Bakersfield. Tim hold both a Ph.D. from UC Santa Barbara (an interdisciplinary degree in History, Classics, and Religious Studies) and an M.Div. from Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP). From 2008, Tim served as Vicar of Grace Episcopal Church…
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Reflections
I’m writing this in the middle of Lent, a time when we turn our focus inward to our relationship with God. Lent is a time of reflection, a time to clear some of the clutter out of our lives, whether in the form of stuff or thoughts. The point is not giving up chocolate (or…