Money, Influence and Friends

Today’s Gospel contains that oft-quoted line, “You cannot serve both God and mammon.” The key here is not the word mammon or money, but the word serve. If we let our concern for money or material goods overmaster us, we will be in trouble. Maybe not in the short term, maybe not in how we [...]

Read Full Post »

Looking for What’s Lost

I hate losing things. Not big things.  Little, insignificant things: a favorite pen, a coupon I know I cut out of the Sunday paper, a receipt for a rebate, a book that I read long ago and suddenly thought of again, a particular item of clothing that I may or may not have given to [...]

Read Full Post »

Counting the Cost?

I have a magnet on my refrigerator with a quotation attributed to Goethe: “What you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” It turns out that this isn’t exactly something the great German writer said, and it has its misty origins in Faust, the classic story [...]

Read Full Post »

Madeleine L’Engle (1918-2007)

One of my all-time favorite authors passed away today and I’m struck by how sad I am, even knowing that she had a long, full, creative life. Madeleine L’Engle is known primarily for her children’s novels, particularly the Newberry Award winning A Wrinkle in Time. The first one I ever read was its sequel, A [...]

Read Full Post »

The Dangers of Social Climbing

Today’s Gospel is one of Jesus’ most extended comments on the virtue of humility. The society of Jesus’ day depended a great deal on status and honor. People were in relationship to one another according to strict rules of class, occupation and conduct. And yet it seems there were social climbers even back then, people [...]

Read Full Post »