Second Sunday in Lent (Year A, RCL)

The vagaries of the calendar and the cycles of the moon bring in an early Lent and Easter this year, and so the transfiguration has come early too, cutting short the season of Sundays after Epiphany. Unexpectedly, we find ourselves back up on the mountain with Jesus. We were just there to hear him describing those who populate the kingdom of heaven. Now he returns, not with all the disciples this time, but only the insider troika of Peter, James and John.

After an attempted coup in Indonesia in 1965, headlines reported that 500,000 people were killed. What did not make the headlines was the quiet revolution that began as the wind of the Spirit began to move into a collapsed intellectual and moral vacuum. There was no ballyhoo or promotion, but simply the response of untold numbers who found in the churches a haven.

We are reading Romans 4 with the eyes of believers on a Lenten journey. There is a time for debate over law and gospel, works and grace—but not now.

As Abram's heirs, we must know that our lives are not so much about choosing as they are about being called.

Portrayed as a cowardly dolt, Nicodemus is usually spotted skulking about under cover of darkness.

Perhaps the Ancient of Days took great pleasure in these light shows.

Embracing Jesus as the Christ means becoming a new person, not a better one.