Irreverently Reverend

  Third Sunday after Epiphany For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.  13  For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14  Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.  15  If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.  16  And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.  17  If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?  18  But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.  19  If all were a single member, where would the body be?  20...

  Second Sunday after Epiphany Brothers and sisters, I don’t want you to be ignorant about spiritual gifts.  2  You know that when you were Gentiles you were often misled by false gods that can’t even speak.  3  So I want to make it clear to you that no one says, “Jesus is cursed!” when speaking by God’s Spirit, and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.  4  There are different spiritual gifts but the same Spirit;  5  and there are different ministries and the same Lord;  6  and there are different activities but the same God who produces all of them in everyone.   7  A demonstration of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good.  8  A word of wisdom is given by the Spirit to one person, a word of knowledge to another according to the same Spirit,  9  faith to still another by the same Spirit, gifts of healing to another in the one Spirit,  10  performance of m...

  First Sunday after Epiphany In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,  2  asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”  3  When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him;  4  and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.  5  They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 6  ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,     are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler     who is to shepherd my people Israel.’” 7  Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.  8...

  Christmas Eve In those days Caesar Augustus declared that everyone throughout the empire should be enrolled in the tax lists.  2  This first enrollment occurred when Quirinius governed Syria.  3  Everyone went to their own cities to be enrolled.  4  Since Joseph belonged to David’s house and family line, he went up from the city of Nazareth in Galilee to David’s city, called Bethlehem, in Judea.  5  He went to be enrolled together with Mary, who was promised to him in marriage and who was pregnant.  6  While they were there, the time came for Mary to have her baby.  7  She gave birth to her firstborn child, a son, wrapped him snugly, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the guestroom. 8  Nearby shepherds were living in the fields, guarding their sheep at night.  9  The Lord’s angel stood before them, the Lord’s glory shone around them, and they were terrified. 10  The...

  Fourth Sunday of Advent   In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country,  40  where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.  41  When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit  42  and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.  43  And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?  44  For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.  45  And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” 46  And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47      and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48  for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.     Sure...