tradition ⁽⁷⁵⁾

Joshua 22:9–34, 1 Samuel 2:12–17, Psalm 40 What’s for dinner? In other denominations, Fridays in Lent are meat-free. No steak or burgers. No bacon. Oddly, due to the latin root “carno” (i.e., carnivore), fish isn’t a “meat”. So, fish Friday it is. If you’ve ever…

Genesis 2:4–19, Isaiah 2:11–22, Proverbs 3:1–18 “…Ashes to Ashes; Dust to Dust…”—Book of Common Prayer, Burial Liturgy The Circle of Life was (and remains) a powerful song. Just the title itself reminds us that life is a circle. Adam (i.e., mankind) came from dust. That…

Isaiah 58:1–12, Psalm 51:1–17, Matthew 6:19–21 Ash Wednesday is the start of Lent, the reflective Christian journey to the cross. One of the symbolic pieces are the ashes themselves. The “official” tradition is that the ashes are from last year’s Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is…

Psalm 35:11–28, Exodus 35:1–29, Acts 10:9–23 Sometimes the greatest evidence that we are doing well is those that oppose us. Another way of perhaps saying that is that the measure of one's success is the quality of one's enemies. Some scholars have claimed that part…

Psalm 99, Deuteronomy 16:1–17, 1 Corinthians 10:23–11:2 If you look at the calendar of any country, you will find a number of secular (i.e, non-religious) observances. Sometimes these to get mixed into religion, and some are just odd. Today, for example, has the following "observations":…