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.
Sunday, March 31, 2019
God feeds us for joy – Luke 15:1-3. 11-32
Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C; Holy Infant Parish.
Sunday, March 24, 2019
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.”
Sunday, March 17, 2019
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.
Sunday, March 10, 2019
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.
Sunday, March 3, 2019
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.”