Eucharist

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 12 (Year B)

2 Kings 4.42-44; John 6.1-21

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 18:10)

 

We just heard the well-known story of the feeding of the 5,000 as reported in the Gospel according to John. This is the only miracle contained in all four Gospels. Which tells us that this event is particularly important in the life and ministry of Jesus. While all four Gospels report what happened, each contains slightly different details. So, let’s look at what makes this particularly important from John’s perspective. And, depending on who you talk to, John’s version of the feeding of the 5,000 carries greater significance than do the accounts in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke).

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Come Away to a Deserted Place

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 11 (Year B)

Mark 6.30-34, 53-56

The Rev. Michael K. Fincher

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 23:40)

 

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Clergy are notoriously bad at self-care. We spend a lot of time talking about self-care at clergy gatherings. About the importance of taking care of ourselves; because if we don’t care for ourselves, we will not have what is needed to care for our parishioners. Discussions about self-care include the full spectrum of health and wholeness: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. A lot of these discussions invariably come around to the need for boundaries; the need for maintaining a balance between our work lives and our personal lives (yes, clergy do have personal lives outside of the parish). And despite all the talk, very little changes.

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Plumb Lines

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 10 (Year B)

Amos 7.7-15

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 23:20)

 

My heart is heavy, my mind is muddled, and my spirit is weeping. A general sense of dis-ease that is, at times, visceral. I imagine some of you—many of you—can relate. I’ve been feeling this way for the last year or more, although it just seems to have become more acute as time goes on. Certainly, the pandemic is a cause for part of this. But if anything, the pandemic—or rather the changes and restrictions the pandemic brought about—provided space for what is going on around us to be made felt in a way that might not have happened in normal times.

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Ministry Pointers

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 9 (Year B)

Mark 6.1-13

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 23:00)

 

Our Gospel reading for today is comprised of two stories. While each have their own theme, they share a common focus on the nature of ministry. Providing some pointers for us as we engage in our own ministries.

 

In the first part of the Gospel reading, we hear that Jesus is in his hometown of Nazareth, where he is teaching in the synagogue. Those who heard him teach and preach were absolutely astounded. “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him?” (Mk 6.2). Sounds like they were pretty amazed at what they were hearing. Jesus was making quite the impression. Until you get to the rest of the commentary. “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” (Mk 6.3a). We are then told “And they took offense at him” (Mk 6.3b). They were impressed with what they were hearing until they stopped to realize, “Hey wait! This is ‘little Jesus.’ He’s one of us. We know his family. We knew him when he was knee-high to a grasshopper.” And that’s when things started to go south.

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