July 29th, 2020

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July 29th, 2020

The name “Martha” is used only here in the Scriptures, but “Mary” was a common name in this era. Mary is a form of Miriam, the name of the sister of Moses. We remember Mariam from the story of the Exodus and her song of jubilation when the Israelites safely crossed the Red Sea as they fled from Egypt and slavery. It is probable that the two sisters and their brother were unmarried and were wealthy – or at least independent since neither parents nor vocation is ascribed to them.

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July 22nd, 2020

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July 22nd, 2020

Most of us have a favorite saint or two among all the men and women honored in our faith. Today is the Feast Day for St. Mary Magdalene, my absolute favorite saint. She has been a favorite of artists and storytellers since the beginning of Christianity. Artists have painted only Mary, the Mother of Jesus, more times than Mary Magdalene.

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July 15th, 2020

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July 15th, 2020

I was asked recently why I choose to think about saints in these meditations. The most important reason is that I find the lives of saints fascinating and challenging. Too often we think of saints as extraordinary men and women who live tucked away from everyday happenings, very brave and always extremely poor.

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July 8th, 2020

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July 8th, 2020

In 1877, Eva Lee’s father was elected as Senator from Ohio and the family moved to Washington, D.C. Three years later her father was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Rutherford B. Hayes. That same year Eva Lee entered Wellesley College, though she never graduated.

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June 24th, 2020

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June 24th, 2020

Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was a very young woman, probably 14 or 15 years old. Tradition is that Joseph was much older than she, but we do not have that included in Scripture. A second marriage, a second family was not unusual in these times as women often died in childbirth or broke their health with multiple pregnancies.

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May 20th, 2020

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May 20th, 2020

There is evidence as early as 30 years after the Resurrection that new Christian Church celebrated Ascension Day as a set-aside Feast. This was the first event in the life and ministry that the church celebrated together. When you think about human nature, that makes perfect sense. Jesus’s followers were quite likely to get together on the anniversary of that last day to share their memories of Jesus’s departure from them.

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May 13th, 2020

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May 13th, 2020

Back in time we meet Pachomius the Great. Born just as the 4th century began, Pachomius lived in Egypt. As a young man, he was caught up in a violent conscription of boys and men for the Roman army. Shipped down the Nile to Thebes, Pachomius met Christians who came every day to bring food and comfort to the kidnapped men. This ministry impressed him so deeply that he vowed to learn about the faith when he was released from the Army.

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April 22nd, 2020

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April 22nd, 2020

St. Matthew moves from the telling of the return of Joseph, Mary and young Jesus from Egypt right into the baptizing of Jesus by John the Baptist. No mention of the trip to Jerusalem when Jesus stayed behind to debate with the temple leaders and his parents thought He was lost. Jesus’s childhood is lost to legend and speculation, much to my unsatisfied imagination.

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April 15th, 2020

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April 15th, 2020

Several norms of Jewish society are disregarded in St. Matthew’s telling. It is significant that the Angel sends Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” to tell the disciples that Jesus is alive and will meet them in Galilee. .  These 2 women were entrusted with this bombshell, this radical news that Jesus was no longer dead but was ALIVE!  God through the Angel trusted WOMEN with this startling news even as the Jewish legal system did not allow any woman to be a witness for anything. 

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