Today’s text are all about God doing something new!

I’m all for new things…
           as long as I don’t have to change anything.

The word “believe” occurs in today’s gospel passage 5 times….
So, I’m thinking it must be important!

Jesus’ passionate flurry of activity in today’s Gospel reading seems unparalleled; it’s one of the stories we all remember and can probably visualize with great detail….

Up to this point in the Gospel of Mark we hear stories of Jesus restoring life:
            giving sight to the blind,
                        driving demons out of the possessed,
                                    restoring mobility to the lame….

Our gospel writer, Mark, is a man of few words,
            yet he provides us with quite vivid imagery….

One of my favorite spiritual authors is Henri Nouwen. I want to share with you some of his words that capture the spirit of Lent:
“Our life is a short time in expectation,
a time in which sadness and joy kiss each other at every moment…..”

Today is a pivotal day.
Today is a pivotal day in the journey of Elijah and Elisha.
Today is a pivotal day in the journey of Jesus and his disciples….

This morning I’m going to do two things I almost never do with a sermon:
           give it a title and…
            use all the readings!

Today’s homily may look a little more like a Bible study than a sermon…           I have a lot of questions for today’s gospel story.
      I humbly offer you my reflections.

Life is full of decisions:
            some are small,
      and some are big….

Have you ever gotten to the end of your day,
and felt like you were just then sitting down for the first time?

Even if you had been sitting at a computer all day….

This past Tuesday Ray sent me a text with a photo of a scene out of a hospital window.

In the foreground were the rooftops of buildings
            with their requisite large vents and other hunks of metal….

Advent is a season when we talk about waiting and watching – 
          waiting and watching for Christ in our midst – but how are we to wait and watch with so many distractions around us?

One early evening a few days before Thanksgiving, a friend pulled into a parking spot at her neighborhood Walgreen’s.

As she walked around the corner, she almost stepped on a man who was sitting on the ground, leaning up against one of the pillars….

A couple of months ago as I was sitting in a packed airport, waiting for my flight, I heard the “ding” of the phone of the woman sitting next to me….

“O that you would tear open the heavens and come down….!”

With this passionate plea we begin our new year in this season of Advent….

I remember taking a family trip to Washington, D.C.
Each of us had a list of places that we wanted to visit…

 “Concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters.…”
“…the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”
“…let us keep awake and be sober…”

I called to check on someone having a procedure in the hospital, fully expecting the surgery to be complete, but instead their spouse said:
“They just took him back…
It feels like a day of ‘hurry up and wait.’”

Visions….
            the Bible is filled with them!

But in today’s Western world,
            it seems that visions are looked upon with suspicion….