Irreverently Reverend

  Ordinary Time So the Lord sent Nathan to David. When Nathan arrived he said, “There were two men in the same city, one rich, one poor.  2  The rich man had a lot of sheep and cattle,  3  but the poor man had nothing—just one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised that lamb, and it grew up with him and his children. It would eat from his food and drink from his cup—even sleep in his arms! It was like a daughter to him. 4  “Now a traveler came to visit the rich man, but he wasn’t willing to take anything from his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had arrived. Instead, he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the visitor.” 5  David got very angry at the man, and he said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the one who did this is demonic!  6  He must restore the ewe lamb seven times over because he did this and because he had no compassion.” 7  “You are that man!” Nathan tol...

  Transfiguration Sunday After we had reached safety, we then learned that the island was called Malta.  2  The natives showed us unusual kindness. Since it had begun to rain and was cold, they kindled a fire and welcomed all of us around it.  3  Paul had gathered a bundle of brushwood and was putting it on the fire, when a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand.  4  When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man must be a murderer; though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.”  5  He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.  6  They were expecting him to swell up or drop dead, but after they had waited a long time and saw that nothing unusual had happened to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god. 7  Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the leading man of...

  Second Sunday of Ordinary Time 23  At that time a great disturbance erupted about the Way.  24  There was a silversmith named Demetrius. He made silver models of Artemis’ temple, and his business generated a lot of profit for the craftspeople.  25  He called a meeting with these craftspeople and others working in related trades and said, “Friends, you know that we make an easy living from this business.  26  And you can see and hear that this Paul has convinced and misled a lot of people, not only in Ephesus but also throughout most of the province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands aren’t really gods.  27  This poses a danger not only by discrediting our trade but also by completely dishonoring the great goddess Artemis. The whole province of Asia—indeed, the entire civilized world—worships her, but her splendor will soon be extinguished.” (CEB)   “To me,” said a West Texas florist who was part of the violent des...

Baptism of the Lord Sunday While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. 2 He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 Then he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s baptism.” 4 Paul said, “ John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied— 7 altogether there were about twelve of them. (NRSV)             I had a meeting Wednesday afternoon that ran rather long and I finally left the office thinking that would be the tensest part of my day.   I was qui...