Irreverently Reverend

  Trinity Sunday Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him, but they doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “ All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you . And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age .” (NRSVue)             A congregant said to a colleague of mine once that she clearly needed to have some extra training as a pastor because the congregation wasn’t growing.   My colleague asked what the congregant was doing to grow in their own faith and the person looked at her with scorn; the purpose of a pastor is to grow a church, they said, and to make sure there were people to step up to take over leade...

  Ordinary Time He took me in a Spirit-inspired trance to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.  11  The city had God’s glory. Its brilliance was like a priceless jewel, like jasper that was as clear as crystal.  12  It had a great high wall with twelve gates. By the gates were twelve angels, and on the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel’s sons.  13  There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.  14  The city wall had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the Lamb’s twelve apostles. 15  The angel who spoke to me had a gold measuring rod with which to measure the city, its gates, and its wall.  16  Now the city was laid out as a square. Its length was the same as its width. He measured the city with the rod, and it was fifteen hundred miles. Its...