Readings: Genesis 9: 8-15; 1 Peter 3: 18-22; Mark 1: 12-15Click here to download a PD of this homily.Preacher: Susan K. Roll Have you ever visited Niagara Falls? Did you spend time standing above the powerful incessant rush of the water, leaning over (well, not too far over) the rail and letting the thunderous currents fill you with the grandeur… read more →
Readings: Sirach 27:30-28:7; Romans 14:7-9; Matthew 18:21-35Click here to download a PDF of this homily.Preacher: Susan K. Roll Jesus must have enjoyed answering Peter’s plaintive question “How many times must I forgive?” with an expansive rhetorical flourish calculated to knock him back on his heels: “Not seven times but seventy-seven times” (other accounts read “Seventy times seven,” even better.) One… read more →
Readings: Wisdom 12:13, 16-19; Romans 8: 26-27; Matthew 13: 24-43Click here to download a PDF of this homily.Preacher: Susan K. Roll Sometimes, when life seems to swirl around us in a confusing mess of options, possibilities and potential dangers, we want it simple. Either/or. A or not A. Chocolate or vanilla? And sometimes life seems more manageable if we discover,… read more →
Readings: Ezekiel 37: 12-14; Romans 8: 8-11; John 11: 1-45Click here to download a PDF of this homily. Preacher: Susan K. Roll It must be the case that something deep in our collective human psyche is terrified of the specter of dead human corpses inexplicably coming to life, pulling themselves out of their graves all ragged, ratty and half-decayed, with… read more →
Readings: Malachi 3:1-4; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40Click here to download a PDF of this homily. Preacher: Susan K. Roll “They were called ‘Thunder Candles,’” the elderly Polish nun told me. “We would light them during a thunderstorm to pray for protection. These candles were blessed on February 2nd, the Feast of the Purification of Mary, the same time as the… read more →
Readings: Isaiah 42: 1-4,6-7; Acts 10: 34-38; Matthew 3: 13-17Click here to download a PDF of this homily. Preacher: Susan K. Roll If you were to visit Israel today, especially with a tour group that arranges visits to sites meaningful to Christians, you yourself could be baptized in the Jordan River. While scholars believe that Jesus was baptized by his… read more →
Readings: Deuteronomy 26: 4-10; Romans 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13Click here to download a PDF of this homily. Preacher: Susan Roll Children love stories. So do adults for that matter. Ideas that would lie almost lifeless on a page or hang motionless in the air when written or spoken as discourse can come to life with vibrant color, dynamic action and flashes… read more →