Pastor Russell E. Saltzman writes, "We think that if we can explain this wild crazy stuff we can tame it, make sense of it, make it yield before us and explain itself. But that isn’t so. The unknown is no calmer, no safer when rationalized, examined, and explained. The chaos that sometimes erupts, exploding over and within own communities and neighborhoods, within your life and mine can be no more comprehensible when demons are dismissed in favor of 'scientific' and…
The Rev. Dr. Amy Schifrin writes, "Every sinner who comes to his table seeking forgiveness will find it granted. Every sinner will be given a place of honor. There is nothing in our repertoire of sins that will stop him from loving us, and there is no sin that should stop us from loving one another. For if God were to embrace only those who were pious, only those who say they have not sinned, if God were to welcome…
Pastor Russell E. Saltzman writes, "Now Jesus and his procession are entering Nain through the city gate. Everyone is happy, don’t you suppose? He’s finished delivering the second greatest sermon of his career and he has seen faith among the Gentiles. This is pretty good stuff, heady and promising. This is a procession celebrating Jesus. And it collides head on with a very different sort of procession. It collides with a procession of death, a man who had died, being…
The Rev. Richard O. Johnson writes, "Several years ago one of the pop psychology books going around was entitled I’m OK—You’re OK...The author’s contention was that healthy people operate from the point of view of “I’m OK—you’re OK”—having a positive self-image and being open and supportive of other people. But the Christian point of view is rather different from that. We live with something like 'I’m not OK—you’re not OK—but that’s OK, because God forgives us and loves us just…
Dr. Joshua Genig writes, "What is most stunning about this icon and about this feast is that the Trinity is there. They have shown up, and they are ready to make your life a joy, if only you will come and fill the fourth spot, if only you will take your place at the table. And that really is what the green, growing season of Pentecost is all about. It is about your growth in the Christian life, of course,…
The Rev. Dr. Richard O. Johnson writes, "If we have received the Holy Spirit, you see, we must understand that we are part of something much larger than a particular congregation. We are part of one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth—and it is a fellowship of many languages, many races, many nations...that happened, my friends, in your baptism. That’s when you became part of this family, this family that ranges from red-robed cardinals to sawdust Pentecostal…
Pastor Russell E. Saltzman writes, "But the Gospel of John would also have us know that despite the reality of our experience in a divided and desperate world, despite the reality of what we see and sense and name as evil, there is nevertheless a wholeness in life that transcends brokenness. There is a life that overcomes death, a love to overcome hatred; a grace, a goodness that will overcome parasitic malignancy. And that wholeness, that life, that love, that…
(From the 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia at New Advent) The fortieth day after Easter Sunday, commemorating the Ascension of Christ into heaven, according to Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51, and Acts 1:2. In the Eastern Church this feast was known as analepsis, the taking up, and also as the episozomene, the salvation, denoting that by ascending into His glory Christ completed the work of our redemption. The terms used in the West, ascensio and, occasionally, ascensa, signify that Christ was raised up…
The Rev. Dr. Cathi Braasch writes, "For all who grow and harvest foodstuffs, and for all who appreciate what appears on grocery shelves and their homes’ tables, there’s a three-day observance remembering where it all comes from. And, if you’ve never observed these days, which might or might not appear in your particular liturgical calendar, then you might just want to give it a try. Like the unfamiliar vegetable, the unrecognized dish or mystery item on the menu, you might…
The Rev. Dr. Cathi Braasch, STS, writes, "So, fellow preachers, who will we call on when all hell is breaking loose? Who will our people turn to in the times and circumstances such as those which have punctured our sense of security in recent days? Who and what will give us courage in the face of horror and tragedy? Who and what but Jesus’ blood and righteousness, shown in His words to us and the whole world through His loving…
