Irreverently Reverend

  Seventh Sunday after Epiphany “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,  28  bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.  29  If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.  30  Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.  31  Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32  “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.  33  And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.  34  And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.  35  But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without exp...

  Ordinary Time (Halloween)   But Christ has appeared as the high priest of the good things that have happened. He passed through the greater and more perfect meeting tent, which isn’t made by human hands (that is, it’s not a part of this world).  12  He entered the holy of holies once for all by his own blood, not by the blood of goats or calves, securing our deliverance for all time.  13  If the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkled ashes of cows made spiritually contaminated people holy and clean,  14  how much more will the blood of Jesus wash our consciences clean from dead works in order to serve the living God? He offered himself to God through the eternal Spirit as a sacrifice without any flaw. (CEB)               Happy Halloween!   It’s not a Church holiday, but it does land right on a Sunday this year.   Given that last Halloween was even more unusual than th...

  Ordinary Time John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us." But Jesus said, " Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward. "If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes...