A Sound of Sheer Silence

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said,"As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down." They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?" And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and, 'The time is near!' Do not go after them. When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately." Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. "But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; the

Here was the First Reading at Mass yesterday (in the Revised Common Lectionary, it was the third paragraph only, but the same basic idea): When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and, falling at his feet, paid him homage. Peter, however, raised him up, saying, “Get up. I myself am also a human being.” Then Peter proceeded to speak and said, “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him.” While Peter was still speaking these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the word.  The circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit should have been poured out on the Gentiles also, for they could hear them speaking in tongues and glorifying God. Then Peter responded, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit even as we have?”  He ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Ear

Lectionary Acts 2: 1-21 Psalm 104 1 Cor 12: 3-13 John 20: 19-23 The disciples knew, or at least had some idea, that this was coming.  Jesus told them that the Holy Spirit was coming.  But they would have been forgiven for thinking that this was going to be a private experience.  And it was a private experience, in the sense that it was just them in the room when the Holy Spirit came. But it didn't stay the way for long.  As soon as the Spirit arrived, the disciples went out and spread their message to the multicultural gathering of Jews in town for the feast of Pentecost.  But even that was not the full scope of what was happening, as Peter quoted from the prophet Joel: In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they sh

Readings (Catholic) Acts 1: 1-11 Psalm 47 Ephesians 1: 17-23 Matthew 28: 16-20 Picture this--you've watched Jesus die on the cross.  You've seen him raised from the dead.  You have seen him walk and talk and eat with you.  And  now, he gathers you on a mountain top, and tells you to wait for something very special called the Holy Spirit, which is coming.  His time on Earth physically is coming to an end, and you have one last opportunity to ask Jesus a question.  What do you ask him? If you answered "I think I would ask him about politics," well, you are in good company, because that's what the Apostles did.  "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" basically means "so when are you going to kick out the Romans and put us in charge?"  In 1st Century Palestinian understanding, the Messiah would come to free the Jewish people, kick out the Romans, and restore the rightful Jewish monarchy--the "Kingdom of G

Readings (Catholic) Acts 8: 5-8, 14-17 Psalm 66 1 Peter 3: 15-18 John 14: 15-21 Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an account of the hope that is in you Christianity is a religion of hope.  The Scriptures, and ultimately Jesus himself, makes promises to us about this life and the life to come.  In other words, we receive the Good News.  We cannot prove, at least in a scientific way, that this Good News is real.  All we can do is hope in those promises.

Readings (Catholic) Acts 6: 1-7 Psalm 33 1 Peter 2: 4-9 John 14: 1-16 In a bit of good timing, we begin the "Blogging the Lectionary" series with one of my favorite passages from the Gospel of John. A number of years back, I was one of the people involved in teaching an RCIA class.  "RCIA" is the "Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults"--basically the program by which people become Catholic.  There were about five of us teaching the classes, and we divided the lessons up among ourselves.  Somehow I ended up taking on the lesson involving "death, heaven, hell, and judgment."  Definitely a tough draw.  I remember futzing around for a while in preparing the lesson, before settling on this Sunday's Gospel reading, and in particular John 14:2: In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? So many of our common images of judgment and salvation, both i

This is an opportunity to do something I've been thinking about doing for a while.  Rachel Held Evans has announced a "Blogging the Lectionary" program , where she will post a reflection on the Sunday readings assigned for the week in the Lectionary.  She's also invited others to join in, and so I will. She's using the Revised Common Lectionary, which is used by Mainline Protestant churches.  The Catholic Lectionary is basically the same with a few slight differences (the RCL was derived from the Catholic Lectionary).  I'll probably use the Catholic one--we'll see. She will be posting on Thursdays.  I am going to try to keep the same schedule.