Month: August 2002

The 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time at St Mark the Evangelist Church in Norman, OK

August 25, 2002

Isaiah 22:19-23 + Romans 11:33-36 + Matthew 16:13-20

We stand in the face of raw power today. It is a power greater than any known source of energy. Greater than the universe and its boiling stars, greater than the fusion of atoms, greater than the wind and the sea and all that is in them. It is the source of the greatest cures and miracles and healings. It is the power exercised by Christ Jesus, rooted in the faith, and given to those who will call it by name and embrace its potential.

It is the greatest of the miracles. It is greater than anything we’ve heard so far in Matthew’s Gospel. … more »

The 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time at St Mark the Evangelist Church in Norman, OK

August 18, 2002

Isaiah 56:1, 6-7 + Romans 11:13-15, 29-32 + Matthew 15:21-28

It is the third of a series of miracle stories leading us to what is probably the most significant event in Matthew’s Gospel outside of the Passion Narrative. It comes next week.

Like two before, this one is not what it seems to be on the surface. A deeper look at the text; the setting, the characters, the narrative conversation, and the interplay of words and deeds gives us reason to see and hear more than what Mark provides in his earlier telling of this story.

With Mark, it is a simple matter of a miracle cure. … more »

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at St Mark Church in Norman, OK

August 15, 2002

Revelation 11:19-12:6 + 1 Corinthians 15:20-27 + Luke 1:39-56

Song, Prayer, and Scripture weave together to make this Feast. In some ways, they all three boil down to a lot of words: words sung, words spoken, words heard.

As a result, I’m not sure we can really get the point. It’s almost as though there is simply too much here, certainly too many words. Words of John in the Book of Revelation,

words of Paul in First Corinthians, words of Luke in the Gospel, all trying to awaken in us the Spirit and Faith of this woman whose faith and trust in God changed the face of the earth. … more »

The 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time at St Mark the Evangelist Church in Norman, OK

August 8, 2002

1 Kings 19:9-13 + Romans 9:1-5 + Matthew 14:2-33

It takes some thinking to figure out where the miracle is.

It is not Jesus walking on water.

That image is an old one found in the Old Testament: in Job 9:8, Psalm 77, and Isaiah 43. God walks on water. No big deal here. That surprised nobody in Matthew’s church who knew his or her scriptures.

Keep the story in context. We are dealing here with Food provided by God last week, and a water passage this week.

These are serious Exodus events: food in the desert, passage through water.

But there is a miracle here, and like last week, this one concerns a change in the disciples rather than something Jesus did. … more »

The 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time at St Mark the Evangelist Church in Norman, OK

August 4, 2002

Isaiah 55:1-3 + Romans 8:35-39 + Matthew 14:13-21

The first of two miracle stories is our focus in liturgy today; and after them comes a miracle of another sort. There is so much going on here! There has been a violent death in the family of Jesus. Herod has murdered John, the cousin of Jesus. In grief Jesus seeks solitude, but it isn’t to be his. The crowds come on foot the long way around the lake, and his grieving time is cut short by a show of mercy and compassion. There is a triangle here of interaction: Jesus, the Disciples, and the Crowd. … more »