Month: September 2024

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 21, September 29, 2024: Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22; Psalm 124; James 5:13-20; Mark 9:38-50 Three years ago this week in the liturgical year, I started writing these reflections. I have missed a few, but almost every Sunday for the past three years I have written something that bounces off the…

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 20, September 22, 2024: Proverbs 31:10-31; Psalm 1; James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a; Mark 9:30-37 Today’s reading from Proverbs is one of the ones which makes me want to respond with various snarky comments. A “capable wife” is “more precious than jewels”. No kidding, I want to say. As Proverbs continues with…

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 19, September 15, 2024: Proverbs 1:20-33; Psalm 19; James 3:1-12; Mark 8:27-38 “How much longer, you ignorant people, will you love being ignorant? How much longer, you mockers, will you keep mocking?” This question that Wisdom asks in Proverbs seems very timely. Wisdom goes on, and reminds her listeners that…

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 18, 8 September 2024: Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23; Psalm 125; James 2:1-10, [11-13], 14-17; Mark 7:24-37 Today’s gospel tells the story of the Syrophoenician woman. Jesus has gone to a house where he hopes for some privacy, time away from the crowds. But people find out where he is, and…

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 17, September 1, 2024: Song of Solomon 2:8-13; Psalm 45:1-2, 7-10; James 1:17-27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Our readings from Hebrew scriptures today focus on love. This is love deeply rooted in bodies and the senses. We begin with the love poetry of the Song of Solomon, or the Song…