Innerdriving

Epiphany 3C January 27, 2019 Luke 4:14-21 St. Matthias I recently made the mistake of claiming to know something about plumbing - to a plumber.  We are having some work done at the house and one of the faucets was leaking and I had an opinion as to what I thought the problem was.  I did what I typically do and Googled “ leaking faucets ” and found a YouTube video that showed exactly how to fix it.  Clearly, this was a problem with the faucet stem. I took the entire thing apart according to the video and went to Home Depot.  Guess what, they don’t make faucet stems for that faucet anymore.  So, I priced a whole new faucet for about $87.95.  That would fix the problem, so I thought.  I was wrong.  I knew it the moment the words came out of my mouth.  I could tell just by looking at our plumber.  He did a good job of not laughing.  I appreciated it.  Now the key thing was that my plumber did 2 things.  First,...

Epiphany 2C John 2:1-11 January 20, 2019 St. Matthias For about a year now, Phyllis and I have been watching the Father Brown Mysteries on NetFlix.  It’s all about a Roman Catholic priest in a small English Village who solves murders, robberies and all manner of other scandals.  The thing is – just when I think I know who did it, Father Brown figures out it is someone else.  I love a good mystery when there are lots of clues to solve. That’s the way it is with our Gospel reading from John this morning.  It is the Wedding at Cana in Galilee and at first glance, we may think we know what is going on - and what is going to happen - because we’ve all heard the story before.  Jesus turns the water into wine and if you are like me - at one time or another – you may have looked at a glass of water and thought that water into wine would be a pretty good trick.  Almost as good as walking on water.  But WHY did Jesus change the water into wi...

Epiphany 1C Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 St. Matthias January 13, 2019            One of the best things about seminary was that you got to sit around and discuss theological stuff.  I mean – what else would you do in seminary?  Don’t get me wrong – there were lectures and tests and papers and way too much reading like in any other graduate school – but we also had these times when we were supposed to THINK theologically.  They were called Theological Reflection Groups – and we would ponder deep theological questions and share our ponderings.  Like consider this one – Would it still be the Eucharist if we used fruit cake and hot chocolate instead of bread and wine?  OR – since Jesus was fully human and fully divine – did he get colds and the flu?             Then came the day when Eugene Kohlbecker asked the question – if Jesus was the Son of God an...

Christmas 1C John 1:1-18 December 30, 2018 St. Matthias We have now reached the 6 th Day of Christmas.  I hope you have received your 6 geese a laying today and your 5 gold rings, 4 calling birds, 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree on all the days before. If not, then you may want to have a talk with your true love.  I have eaten everything I wanted this year and too much more.  With 6 days to go in the Christmas season, many of us have likely had our fill of celebrating for the year.            But of course, we know that gifts and food are not WHAT we celebrate at Christmas.  They are HOW we celebrate.  Christmas is the celebration of God coming into the world as a baby born in Bethlehem - a Savior born to be for us the Light.  In our Collect for the Day, we pray, “Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives.”  Our scrip...