RCL Reflection for 2nd Sunday of Advent, Year B. December 10, 2023.
For Jesus followers, Advent is like a spiritual garage sale – a time to get rid of all the stuff that clutters our lives and distracts us from the path of discipleship. It’s the best way to prepare for Christmas. The Rev. Sharron Blezard explores. (Photo: Creative Commons)
RCL Reflection, Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 7, Year B
June 20, 2021
Heaven starts here—not at some pie in the sky future date when we’ve vacated this reality for eternity—so we might as well start living like it. After all, wouldn’t you rather be living in Christ’s reign than in a purgatory/hell of your own construction?
RCL Reflection for the Third Sunday after Pentecost, Year B, Proper 6, June 13, 2021
Once someone encounters the richness of Jesus’ teaching through parables, its like an entire new world opens up—a world beyond dualism and using scripture as a cudgel. They will begin to truly see what the kingdom of heaven is like now.
RCL Reflection for the Second Sunday after Pentecost, Year B, June 6, 2021
Church, it’s time we lamented and repented for not loving all God’s good children, for clinging to a few verses of scripture to defend our spurious claims to doctrinal purity and take a serious look at what Jesus says about the beloved community.
RCL Reflection for Holy Trinity Sunday, Year B, May 30, 2021
Our job as leaders, teachers, and preachers is to show the wondrous love of God beyond all knowing, trusting that the Divine One in Three and Three in One will indeed capture the hearts, minds, and lives of all who come to know the unknowable. Why would we settle for anything less?
Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost Sunday, Year B, May 23, 2021
This weekend we once again read the story of Ezekiel prophesying to the dry bones of Israel (and to us today) and the story of the first church at Pentecost. It’s up to each one of us to decide: Can we leave our petty differences at the door and welcome all people to Christ’s table of love and grace? Can we shed the skin of Christian nationalism to become the Church of that first Pentecost? Will we do whatever it takes to ignite the fire in our bellies that will lead to renewal and revival?
RCL Reflection for the Seventh Sunday of Easter Year B, May 16, 2021
Jesus’ prayer doesn’t seek to take us out of the world in some pie-in-the-sky version of rapture. It places us squarely here in the midst of the created order, and it lets us know that the Christ is right there with us—along with God the Creator and Author of all that is.
RCL Reflection, Sixth Sunday of Easter Year B, May 9, 2021
We must remember that all the earth belongs to God—every atom, molecule, droplet of water, and handful of soil—and as such is sacred. This week’s psalm helps us do just that, as well as illumine the other lessons. (Image: Lyre, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
RCL Reflection for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B, May 2, 2021
From these three lessons we learn that abiding in Christ helps us learn to love, and that teaching helps us enact good change—in the church, in our own lives, and in the world. Let’s look at it as a formula for faith: Abide + Love = Good Change. If we give the Holy Spirit a little wiggle room in our lives, we just might be amazed.
RCL Reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Easter Year B, April 25, 2021
Why the 23rd Psalm for Creation Sunday? Why not look at Genesis or any other number of potential lessons? The easy answer is “why not”? It’s what the lectionary gives us for this Sunday, and the Holy Spirit does tend to provide a way forward. The key to using this psalm to celebrate Creation Sunday is to invite people to explore it afresh.
