Irreverently Reverend

  Ordinary Time What good is it, my sacred family members, if a man says ‘I have faith,’ but has no deeds to show for it?   Can that kind of ‘faith’ set him free and make him whole?   15 If a family member or any human being has no clothes to wear or no food to eat, 16 and you say, ‘Go in peace, stay warm, and eat well,’ but fail to give what is needed, what good have you done? 17 In the same way, without deeds, faith by itself is dead.   18 But someone will say, ‘Faith is what is needed,’ while another says, ‘Good deeds are what is needed.’   I say that both are needed.   You show me your faith without good deeds, and I will show you my faith by the good deeds I have done.   (First Nations Version)             In case you didn’t know, church folk are a tad dramatic.   We, like most people, want to be right, and to have everyone know we’re right, and for everyone else to agree with us because...

  First Sunday of Christmas/New Year's Eve When the time came for their ritual cleansing, in accordance with the Law from Moses, they brought Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. (23 It’s written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male will be dedicated to the Lord.”) 24 They offered a sacrifice in keeping with what’s stated in the Law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. 25 A man named Simeon was in Jerusalem. He was righteous and devout. He eagerly anticipated the restoration of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. 26 The Holy Spirit revealed to him that he wouldn’t die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 Led by the Spirit, he went into the temple area. Meanwhile, Jesus’ parents brought the child to the temple so that they could do what was customary under the Law. 28 Simeon took Jesus in his arms and praised God. He said,   29 “Now, master, let your servant go in peace according to your word, 30    ...

  Ordinary Time 21  Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22  “The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.  23  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how terrible that darkness will be!  24  No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. 25  “Therefore, I say to you, don’t worry about your life, what you’ll eat or what you’ll drink, or about your body, what you’ll wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothes?  26  Look at the birds in the sky. They don’t sow seed or harvest grain or gather crops into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than they are?  27  Who among you by worrying can add a single mome...