Posts tagged with ‘Sunday’

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Sunday, March 17, 2019 – Second Sunday in Lent

by Melissa VanTassell

    Though we sometimes doubt and often resist God’s desire to protect and save us, our God persists. In holy baptism, God’s people have been called and gathered into a God-initiated relationship that will endure. Lent provides the church with a time and a tradition in which to seek the face of the Lord again. Lent […]

    Sunday, March 10, 2019 – First Sunday in Lent

    by Melissa VanTassell

      These forty days called Lent are like no other. It is our opportune time to return to the God who rescues; to receive the gifts of God’s grace; to believe with the heart and confess with the mouth the wonder of God’s love in Jesus; and to resist temptation at every turn. This is no […]

      Sunday, September 30, 2018 – Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

      by Melissa VanTassell

        Someone is casting out demons in Jesus’ name who isn’t part of Jesus’ own circle, and the disciples want him stopped. They appeal to Jesus, as Joshua did to Moses about the elders who prophesied without official authorization. Like Moses, Jesus refuses to see this as a threat. Jesus welcomes good being done in his […]

        Sunday, September 23, 2018 – Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

        by Melissa VanTassell

          Today we hear James warn against selfish ambition, while the disciples quarrel over which one of them is the greatest. Jesus tells them the way to be great is to serve. Then, to make it concrete, he puts in front of them an actual flesh-and-blood child. We are called to welcome the particular children God […]

          Sunday, September 16, 2018 – Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

          by Melissa VanTassell

            Three weeks ago we heard John’s gospel’s version of Peter’s confession of faith. This week we hear Mark’s version, when Peter says, “You are the Messiah.” In John, the stumbling block is Jesus’ invitation to eat his flesh, given for the life of the world. In Mark too the scandal has to do with Jesus’ […]

            Sunday, September 9, 2018 – Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

            by Melissa VanTassell

              James tells us to stop showing favoritism in the assembly, treating the rich visitor with more honor than the poor one. Jesus himself seems to show partiality in his first response to the Syrophoenician woman in today’s gospel. Was he testing her faith in saying Gentiles don’t deserve the goods meant for God’s children? Or […]

              Sunday, August 26, 2018 – Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

              by Melissa VanTassell

                In today’s gospel many people take offense at Jesus’ invitation to eat his flesh and drink his blood; even many of Jesus’ disciples peel off. This is the backdrop in John’s gospel for Peter’s confession of faith. “To whom can we go?” asks Peter, in words we sometimes sing just before the gospel is read. […]

                Sunday, August 19, 2018 – Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

                by Melissa VanTassell

                  Wisdom prepares a feast, sets her table, and invites all to come and eat her bread and drink her wine. The first chapter of John’s gospel owes much to the biblical tradition that imagined Wisdom as existing before anything was created and having a role in the work of creation. Christ, the wisdom of God […]