Coming Through Our Own Valley of Dry Bones

Fifth Sunday in Lent (Year A)

Ezekiel 37.1-14; John 11.1-45

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 17:30)

I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably say it again—probably many more times in my career—but it never ceases to amaze me how the designated readings in our Sunday Lectionary so often fit so well with what we are dealing with personally, as a parish, or as a nation. Or in this case, as a world.

In this COVID-19 pandemic, we find ourselves in a valley of dry bones, of sorts. A place of increasing death, both literal and metaphorical. And we find ourselves, along with Mary and Martha, grieving the losses experienced through this health crisis. Not just the mounting deaths, but also the loss of our former way of life as we are forced to find a new way of being while “sheltered in place.” Both these stories offer lessons for us as we move through our current circumstances. They offer us glimpses of what may await us on the other side.

Read more!

The Courage to Stand Up to Fear

Fourth Sunday in Lent (Year A)

John 9.1-41

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 16:00)

In her book, Fracture, New York Times Bestselling Author Megan Miranda writes “Funny how everything can change in an instant. From death to life. From empty to full. From darkness to light.” Although, admittedly, right now it seems as if she has that backwards. Shouldn’t it be “Funny how everything can change in an instant. From life to death. From full to empty. From light to darkness.” From life to death caused by the rapid spread of a new disease. From full to empty shelves in the grocery store. From the light of hope to the darkness of fear.

Read more!

Life-Changing Encounters in the Midst of Everyday Life

Third Sunday in Lent (Year A)

John 4.5-42

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Imagine going into your kitchen to get some water out of the tap—to drink, to put the kettle on for tea, to wash some dishes. And there, sitting on the cabinet next to the sink is a strange man. Not just any stranger, but none other than Jesus. That’s essentially what happens with the Samaritan woman at the well in today’s Gospel reading. Back then, they didn’t have indoor plumbing, so the women had to go to the communal well every day to draw water for the necessary household chores—cooking, washing, cleaning. When this particular woman went to perform her daily chore of drawing water, she came across Jesus, sitting there resting. And the exchange that occurred between the two changed her life. Little did she know when she got up that morning, when she set out to go to the well to perform the back-breaking task before her, that she would leave that well, not with her water jar filled with plain old water, but with her soul filled with living water.

Read more!

Experiencing God Anew

Second Sunday in Lent (Year A)

Psalm 121; John 3.1-17

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Years ago, when I lived in Redlands, I used to walk every morning, after my morning prayers and before I got ready for work. As I walked through the neighborhood in which I lived, my eyes were continually drawn to the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains, just north of our community. At such times, my mind would turn to the opening two verses of our Psalm for today: “I lift up my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth” (Ps 121.1-2). Those hills, and the verses that came to mind, were a continual reminder of God’s presence. Even more, a reminder of my need to rely on God. That I could do nothing on my own. Particularly when times were difficult, when I had questions, when I needed guidance.

Read more!

Lenten Wilderness

First Sunday in Lent (Year A)

Matthew 4.1-11

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

As we set off on our forty-day journey through Lent, Jesus begins a forty-day journey of his own. Although it’s really the other way around. Our forty-day Lenten journey is based, in some ways, on Jesus’ forty-day journey in the wilderness. Which, in turn, is based, in some ways, on the forty years the Israelites spent in the wilderness. The common denominator being forty. A number that, in Scripture, is meant not so much to signify a specific number, but is meant to denote a time between; the necessary span before the gracious conclusion. The number of years between the time the Israelites escaped slavery in Egypt and their entry into the Promised Land. The number of days between Jesus’ baptism and the beginning of his public ministry. The number of days (okay, excluding Sundays) between our confession of our sinfulness and acknowledgment of our mortality on Ash Wednesday and the celebration of our salvation and eternal life on Easter.

Read more!