Dear friends, I am writing to invite you on a pilgrimage of trust to St. Louis, Missouri, near Ferguson, Missouri, hosted by the monastic community from Taize, France. Last September, I traveled to the MIT chapel in Boston, MA to hear Brother John and Brother Emile from the Taize community speak about this pilgrimage. After inviting us on the pilgrimage […]
John 9:1-41 They had written him off. The community had written the blind guy off. They were so busy judging him that they missed out on befriending and learning from him. Maybe the blind guy has something to teach us about faith, about learning to navigate through the unknown. Yet, in this story, the blind guy was relegated to a street corner to beg as if, somehow, his community had the sight problem and did not see him. The blind man’s community did not creatively dream up ways to include him, to help him navigate his blindness or allow him to support himself in a dignified manner. Instead, the townspeople relegated him to a street corner, writing him and his family off has sinners. Then Jesus came by and it says Jesus “saw” him. Jesus saw the human being in front of him. The disciples are surprised by this and they wonder aloud: “Whose fault is it that this man is blind? Did he sin or did his parents?” Who do we blame? Jesus responds, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. But in order that God’s works might be revealed in him it is necessary for us to work the works of the one who sent me.” Jesus doesn’t answer the question of whose fault it is. Jesus is saying, don’t waste time on finger pointing, instead, look in a different direction to see what God is doing right […]
John 4:5-42 Trust. Today’s Scripture is about trust. I wonder: Do we really trust God? Do we trust God with all the parts of our lives, the places where we experience anger and frustration, as well as places where we feel gratitude and delight? I was pondering that question this week as I reflected on my visit to the Taize […]
Matthew 4:1-11 What are the temptations in the story today? The obvious temptations are: The evil one encourages Jesus to keep Jesus’ mission small. “Just feed yourself,” the evil one says, “and forget everyone else.” [i] The devil encourages Jesus not to worry about the welfare of others and instead be consumed with his own sense of self-importance by jumping […]
