24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, RCL)

The story of the golden calf is a parody of Israelite idolatry.

The Prodigal Son is often read to mean that God loves sinners, whereas the Jews thought God only loved the righteous. This makes no sense.

Exodus 32 is too monumental not to mention. And while the lectionary assigns 32:7–14, it’s important to include verses 1–6 as well.

I suggest we stop calling this text the “golden calf” incident and begin calling it the “God changes God’s mind at the request of Moses” incident.

Gangs excel at finding the lost, adopting them and sending them out. Therefore, gang youth can be recruited for apostolic ministry.

The psalms are poignant. They bear emotion in a way that grabs our souls. They are comprehended by the heart in a way the head can’t.

But I falter when I try to preach them.

Snow can be tiresome, even deadly, but it can also be a sign of holiness and of hope.

In Bosnia, I was reminded that the God who shows up at communion is a God who brazenly seeks us out of the crowd.

When the church I serve undertook a strategic planning process, there was more golden calf than fiery pillar. But while we planned, God summoned.

A few years ago when Tomas wrecked a car, the police didn't care about his immigration status. But times have changed.

The best storytellers paint pictures with words, using them to fill our minds with vivid imagery. I remember reading the first Harry Potter novel to my first-grade son. Each time we completed a chapter and I turned the page to start a new one he would shift in my lap and look away from the book. Finally I asked him what was wrong. He replied, “I don’t want to see the drawing on the first page of the chapter because I want to think about what things look like all by myself.”

How does the way God regenerates us resemble and differ from the way we regenerate ourselves?