Lectionary Readings for Christmas Day I: Psalm 96, Isaiah 9:2-7, Titus 2:11-14, Luke 2:1-14 (15-20) “When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shep ..read more

Lectionary Readings for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, Year A: Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18, Isaiah 7:10-16, Romans 1:1-7, Matthew 1:18-25 With the arrival of Advent 4, there is only one remaining Last Thing to discuss: Hell. The readings for today might not broach this subject directly, but the prophet Isaiah does offer a little commentary on hell at an angle. In his account of the Lord’s conversation with Ahaz, God invites Ahaz to ask for a sign that is as high as heaven or as deep as Sheol. Not wishing to incur the Lord’s wrath, Ahaz asks for no sign at all, which doesn’t exactly go over well with God ..read more

Lectionary Readings for the Third Sunday in Advent, Year A: Psalm 146:4-9. Isaiah 35:1-10, James 5:7-10, Matthew 11:2-11 In the tradition of preaching about the Four Last Things, The Third Sunday in Advent, also known as Gaudete Sunday, coincides with the topic of Heaven. Gaudete is a Latin plural imperative, a commandment to “rejoice!”. This order is also an invitation into divine joy. Along with Laetare Sunday in Lent, Gaudete Sunday is one of two times in the liturgical year in which we don rose-colored vestments and experience brief spiritual respite near the halfway point of a penitential ..read more

Dear Readers, Bear with me as I do some back-posting for Advent 2-4 and an only slightly late homily for Christmas Day. JKR+ Lectionary Readings for the Second Sunday in Advent, Year A: Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19, Isaiah 11:1-10, Romans 15:4-13, Matthew 3:1-12 In keeping with the Advent tradition of covering The Four Last Things, today’s topic is Judgment (we covered Death in Advent 1). As noted in we’ve said about the reign of Christ in Advent 1, Isaiah prophesies about what Jesus’s judgment will look like: “He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteous ..read more

Lectionary Readings for The First Sunday in Advent, Year A: Psalm 122, Isaiah 2:1-5, Romans 13:11-14, Matthew 24:36-44 As we enter Advent and begin our liturgical year anew, I want to briefly reflect on the tradition of preaching about The Four Last Things on successive Sundays in Advent and on Advent as a season. I’ll also include a bit of hopefully meaningful wrangling with the layered, coterminous meanings of the word “advent.” The Four Last Things traditionally are Death, Judgment, Hell, and Heaven. If you’re less familiar with this tradition, these might be some of the last four topics yo ..read more

Eucharistic Readings for the Last Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 29, Year C: Jeremiah 23:1-6, Colossians 1:11-20, Luke 23:35-43 “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” – Jeremiah 23:5 “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” – Luke 23:39 May I speak in the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.+ If you know a little something about horticulture, you know a little something about branches. While not the central trunk or st ..read more

Dear Readers, At long last, I’m making a return to this blog and to posting writing on the internet after several shifts in my life due to the global pandemic. I hope that you are all staying well and safe as we continue to do what we can to promote public health and keep ourselves and other people as healthy as possible. What follows is a more or less verbatim account of the speech that I gave during the Memorial Chapel service at the Ethel Walker School, where I’m teaching for the year. When I gave this address a week before All Saints/All Souls, I was asked to keep the talk nondenomination ..read more

This week, I served as the reader for stations of the cross at the parish I attend here in New Haven. If you’re unfamiliar with stations, here’s a quick rundown of how the service works. In addition to a priest, there are four servers required: 1 crucifer, 2 torchbearers, and 1 reader. The service begins with a few short, opening prayers at the crossing. Then, the reader, priest, and congregation follow the cross and lights to each of 14 sequential stations, each depicting a scene from the Via Crucis, Jesus’s path from his sentencing to crucifixion to his death on a cross at Golgotha and subs ..read more

Today is Laetare Sunday (fourth Sunday in Lent), which marks the halfway point of the forty days of Lent. Today and Gaudete Sunday (third Sunday of Advent) are the only times in the liturgical year when we wear rose-colored vestments in order to represent joy in the midst of penitential seasons and remind us that penitence and repentance aren’t all about doom and gloom. The Gospel reading in the Lectionary for today is Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32, in which Jesus tells the story of The Prodigal Son. I commend this story to you in its entirety. The following sermon is drawn from that parable. “Father ..read more