God feeds us for joy – Luke 15:1-3. 11-32

Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C; Holy Infant Parish.

Did you know that baby flamingoes are born with grey feathers?  They only become pink because their diet is rich in a natural pink dye called canthaxanthin, which is found both in brine shrimp and, somewhat paradoxically in blue-green algae.  Zoo flamingoes used to lose their acquired pinkness until zookeepers realized that they had to provide them with artificial sources of canthaxanthin.  As with flamingoes, so with us: we are what we eat.

God gives us time – Luke 13:1-9, Exod 3:1-15

3rd Sunday in Lent, Year C; Holy Infant.

Today’s gospel forever takes away our right to victim blame. That goes for victim-blaming ourselves as much as it does for assuming that anyone else who suffers injury “had it coming.”

Jesus’ glorious word sustains us on our walk –Luke 9:28b-36

2nd Sunday of Lent, Year C; Holy Infant parish.

I spoke to someone recently who has decided that for Lent he would look at some of his wedding photos every day. Not because this was an unpleasant penance… our Lenten observances aren’t meant to be as arduous as possible, they’re meant to be things that make us holier. In this case, the idea was that going back and looking at a beautiful beginning was meant to be inspire him to live his marriage vows more ardently.

God delights in our embrace – Deut 26:4-10; Psa 91; Luke 4:1-13

1st Sunday of Lent, Year C; Holy Infant parish.

“Even the devil can quote scripture,” goes the saying. That line is actually not in the in the Bible (it’s from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice), but the truth of it is confirmed by the gospel we’ve just read. Actually, in Shakespeare’s play, that line is used to ignore rather than engage what I find actually a very interesting argument about the relevance of the book of Genesis to debates about usury. The way the saying is used often seems to follow the Shakespearean model, ignoring someone’s attempt to bring scripture to bear on a situation rather than engaging it. So, I suggest, that even though it’s the devil citing it, we pay attention to what he says when he cites scripture, pay enough attention to see why that doesn’t lead Jesus to do what Satan wants.

God has won for us – 1 Cor 15:54-58, Luke 6:39-45

Sunday of the 8th Week of Ordinary Time, Year C; Holy Infant parish.

I don’t know if you noticed, but two weeks in a row now, we’ve had readings in which Paul has used the image of clothing to talk about what God is doing for us in Christ. Last week, he said we will wear the image of Christ. This week, it’s this image of what is corruptible (by which Paul means perishable really) putting on what’s incorruptible; what’s mortal putting on immortality. Well, in my family, I’m not really the expert on clothing. That would be my youngest sister, who’s a professional fashion stylist. So, I thought I should get in contact with her and talk this over, talk over how clothing really changes people. And she shared with me a quote from that great mid-twentieth century sage, Marilyn Monroe. Ms Monroe, apparently, once said, “Give a woman the right pair of shoes, and she can conquer the world.”