“Do not be afraid, little flock.”

 Do not be afraid.

 Easier said
           than done.

 It seems, these days, that fear is all around….

“One’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions,”
Jesus says in today’s gospel story.

 Jesus has been hammering home this truth,
turning the Pharisees and lawyers against him,
    because he says they are tithing commodities
while neglecting justice and love….

As Jesus and his disciples continue on their journey to Jerusalem,
            Jesus takes some time to pray.

 This time he is allowed to finish before someone asks something of him….

As many of you know,

            I enjoy gardening,

       and if time and my body allowed,

                        I’d garden all day, every day….

“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

 Seems like a great question.

 Just short-circuit the small talk
and get to the crux of the matter!

The Kindom of God has come near.

Bidden or unbidden…
            welcomed or not welcomed…
       the Kindom of God has come near!

 What wonderful news!
           That includes an invitation….

In Paul’s letter to the Church in Galatia, he says:
            “The whole law is summed up in a single commandment,
      ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

 You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Salvation.

That’s a word you probably don’t hear very often from the pulpit in The Episcopal Church! Or anywhere else in The Episcopal Church, for that matter….

Today, Trinity Sunday, is the day the Church sets aside to focus on the Trinity: the one, holy, living, and loving God.

For the disciples,
the day of Pentecost started just like any other day.

They had gathered together in one place as a community,
and then SUDDENLY,
                        suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind,
       and it filled the entire house….

I always find today’s reading from Acts a good story…
 part of it seems a bit confounding
        and other parts are absolutely miraculous…!

“Peace I leave with you;
my peace I give to you.”

 Peace.

 When you hear that word -
especially imagining that Jesus is saying to you: “Peace”…
      Can you feel your body release?
                    Tensions soften?
                 Muscles relax?
                            Your mind let go of its chatter….?

“Love one another.”

Peter was there that night,
            along with Judas and the others
    when Jesus said, “one of you will betray me.”

 One of us?
            Impossible….!

Being a city girl, I have had relatively little experience with sheep and shepherding.

Not that my life has been totally devoid of sheep…

Today is Palm Sunday…
            the first day of Holy Week.

 Today we begin our journey to the cross with Jesus….

“Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany…”

Bethany is a suburb, if you will, of Jerusalem – only 2 miles away.

This is a somber day for Jesus…
      the next day he will enter the holy city
to begin his journey to the cross….

As I was growing up,

every Thanksgiving and Christmas

                        my extended family on my mother’s side

       would gather at my great uncle and aunt’s house for a feast….

Whenever I hear of the person “Moses,” one of several images immediately comes to mind:

 The first is the image of baby Moses floating in a basket amongst the bullrushes….

Today’s readings are full of life . . . that is to say - they are real. 

They are full of faith
and full of doubt.

 They are full of the struggle we know as life…
and our accompanying vulnerability….

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit… was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.”  (Luke 4:1)

This period of 40 days for Jesus fell between the time of his baptism and the beginning of his public ministry….