Break Open the Word

All Saints' Day - 1 November 2015 Isaiah 25:6-9 Psalm 24 Revelation 21:1-6a St. John 11:32-44                                                                                   Background:  All Saints Day  the origin of this day is a bit murky, perhaps originating in the Eastern Church, where it was observed in May, or the Sunday after Pentecost.  In 609, Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome to the Virgin Mary and all the Martyrs.  In the eighth century celebrations of all the Saints emerged in England, celebrated principally on 1 November, which was brought to England either through the ministry of Egbert of York, or perhaps from earlier celebrations either in Ireland or Gaul.  It is a day in which the Church celebrates saints li...

The Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 25, 25 October 2015 Job 41:1-6, 10-17 Psalm 34:1-8, 19-22 Or Genesis Jeremiah 31:7-9 Psalm 126 Hebrews 7:23-28 St. Mark 10:46-52 Background: Jeremiah and Politics Jeremiah occupied a difficult position. His ministry stands on the cusp of an ancient world that is rapidly changing. Stuck in the middle are the People of God and their Prophet (whom they do not trust, and whose message is disdained and disregarded). It was a practical issue made of the stuff of our own time – side with Babylon, or side with Egypt. Trusting in the east was probably not a reasonable or acceptable choice. One only had to think of how the Assyrians had savaged the Northern Kingdom. Could anything better be expected from the Babylonians? That, however, is Jeremiah’s choice. Carolyn Sharpe in an article on the call of Jeremiah [1] brings our attention to Jeremiah’s call in Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you...