St. Mark's Episcopal Church

O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a barren and dry land where there is no water. These words from our Psalm set us on a right path to consider today’s readings. Were it not for this portal into the meaning of what we have heard today, we might err into questionable theology. The author of Luke tells us a story about people coming to tell Jesus of an atrocity where Pilate had his soldiers mix the blood of wors

Our readings today are very confusing. It’s hard to find anything about them that link them together so that we may find meaning in them. Our reading from the Hebrew Scriptures tells the story of Abram’s continuing conversation with God about God’s promise to him that he will become a great nation. Repeatedly God speaks to Abram assuring him that he will have many ancestors. But Abram is married to Sarai who is barren. It seems impossible. She has told him to take her maid to

This last week I stumbled across a posting on Facebook by a congregation from the Disciples of Christ, Bixby Knolls Christian Church. My initial thought based on their name was that they were somewhere in holler country, Tennessee or maybe West Virginia. Meanwhile, here is what their posting said: The Bible is clear: Moabites are bad. They were not to be allowed to dwell among God’s People (Deuteronomy 23). But then comes the story of “Ruth the Moabite,” which challenges the

A friend from seminary had as his Facebook cover photo a picture of himself seated in the quire of Christ Church Oxford. In the picture he is holding a book in his hands and the pages are reflecting a bright light that illuminates his face. The picture is so captivating that when I found myself in that same Cathedral during the time I was studying at our sister seminary, Ripon College Cuddesdon, one summer, I found the location and attempted to recreate the same effect. My ph