In our first reading today, Paul says something really bold. He’s talking about the good news of Jesus, and he says “according to my gospel.” My gospel. I couldn’t believe it, because usually we say it’s Jesus’ gospel, or God’s gospel, but Paul said “my gospel.” I found that surprising. “Gospel” is an old word that means “good…
My family has been on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster the past couple of weeks. There was a pregnancy that became compromised, and it was a scary thing as the mother was put on bedrest in the hospital. There was eventually an emergency C-section, and all the things that could have gone wrong somehow didn’t. When…
It was about nine o’clock in the evening when my beeper sounded. I was on call at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, where I’m currently completing my Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), and this was the first time in two months that I’d received a message on the “pastoral care” pager, rather than the frequently-used “trauma” pager. Dialing…
I have a pretty shameful memory from when I was back in the 4th Grade. We were taking a spelling test, and I think this was the first year we had begun to check each other’s work. After taking the test, I passed mine to the student in the desk behind me, and got the test…
As we gather in our homes to reexperience the last supper, and to honor the mandate Jesus gave us to love one another as he has loved us, my mind returns to another last supper, and another friend on the edge of death. When she learned she was dying, my friend Mary Kay rearranged her…
