Rev Chris Roth

  Luke 2:22-40 In our Gospel reading we meet Simeon and Anna who both have prophetic insight into the child who has been brought to the temple. Jesus has been brought to the temple by his devout parents to fulfill the requirements of the law. In Leviticus we read: “When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt-offering, and a pigeon or a turtle-dove for a sin-offering. He shall offer it before the Lord, and make atonement on her behalf; then she shall be clean from her flow of blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, male or female. If she cannot afford a sheep, she shall take two turtle-doves or two pigeons, one for a burnt-offering and the other for a sin-offering; and the priest shall make atonement on her behalf, and she shall be clean” (Lev 12:6-8). So, what we see happening here is that Mary and Joseph are dutifully follow...

  2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16; Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38 In our Old Testament reading, we see King David expressing his desire to make a “house” for God, meaning that he wishes to make a temple for God. David has recently united the tribes of Israel under his leadership. He conquered the city of Jerusalem, and established it as his capital city. … Until this point, if you wanted to go to a place to encounter God you would go to the Ark of the Covenant, which had been housed in a tent called the Tabernacle. David thought it was inappropriate for him to live in a palace while God’s Ark remained in a tent. … It is a logical thought. For example, many years later, when the exiles return from Babylon, they get to work rebuilding the city. They finish their houses, but the Temple remains in ruins, and we read in the prophet Haggai,  “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?” (Haggai 1:4).  Here, God (spea...

  Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; Luke 1:46b-55; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8, 19-28 Advent is actually meant to be a bit like Lent. The church wants us to get ready for the big feasts of Christmas and Easter through Advent and Lent. Advent doesn’t always sit well with us as a penitential season because we are usually well into celebrating Christmas before Advent is over. This 3rd week of Advent is a bit unusual in that while many of the advent readings in other weeks speak about the final judgement, or preparing for the second coming of Christ. The 3rd week of Advent is Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete means “rejoice”. So this Sunday stands out from what is traditionally a penitential season, and our readings reflect that. I’m going to jump around a bit as we look at how these readings reflect this theme. First, we look at John the Baptist. John is the major character in Advent. He is the last of the prophets of the Old Testament. According to other Gospels, he is dressed in camel’s hair, w...

  Isaiah 40:1-11; 2 Peter 3:8-15; Mark 1:1-8 In our Gospel reading, John the Baptist cries out with the words of the prophet Isaiah on his lips- ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight”’ (Mark 1:2-3; Is 40:3). He is telling the people to prepare for God who is coming to them. Not in the general way where God is with us all the time, but in a special way- a way that needs to be prepared for. The second letter of Peter is again telling us to get ready, but this time for his second coming. Perhaps we can learn something about the second coming from the first. There was a relatively set understanding regarding how the messiah was supposed to come the first time. He would be a king like David. He would remove the occupying Roman forces. He would purify the leadership of the Temple and establish true worship. In a sense, he would ‘make Isra...

  Mark 13:24-37 I really wish COVID would just go away. I feel sad that I can’t see people I care about. I’m trying to imagine Christmas without seeing family. It’s hard to get my head around the consistency of the rules. I don’t really know how to be a priest in all this. I don’t want to make anyone sick, and I’m constantly wondering how people are doing. There are some that are not dealing with the isolations well at all, especially anyone with memory problems or mental health issues. People are drinking more, there are more drug overdoses, and more suicides. There is a tension in the air that is unrelenting and it’s emotionally draining. COVID had been pretty theoretical, but now we know people who are catching it, and dying from it. The tension in the air seems to make everything else worse. People are less patient. Everything becomes a political symbol that divides us to one side or the another. We pick up a flag that proclaims our rights to resist Government restrictions, o...

  Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; Matthew 25:31-46 Today we are entering into the last week of the Christian year- This is the day we recognize the Reign of Christ- the true king of the universe. We have a very Interesting connection between our Old Testament reading from the prophet Ezekiel and our Gospel reading today. In Ezekiel, we see the image of God as a shepherd is going to gather the scattered sheep. The Good shepherd (see Jn 10; Psalm 23) feeds the sheep, and leads them to water in the hill country of Israel. There is an element of judgement in Ezekiel’s image of the shepherd. The lost will be found, the injured will be treated, the weak will be strengthened. But strangely, the fat and strong will be destroyed, … which is odd behaviour for a shepherd. Usually they want fat and strong animals. God, the shepherd, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Ezekiel says why- the fat and strong sheep are bullies. God says,  “Because you pushed with flank and shoulder...

I have been thinking about this for a while and I thought I might try to put my thoughts down in one place. Mainly, this is so I can try to get my own thinking straight, but I also thought I might share it because I doubt I'm the only one thinking about this. It is also complicated enough that people might be "feeling it" more than "thinking it", so it may be useful for some to have words to put to those feelings.   So let's look at a couple cases. I'll start with a news article from Democracy Now (a very left leaning news agency)- White Professor Admits to Pretending to Be Afro-Latina for Years "In academic news, a George Washington University professor [Jessica Krug] specializing in Africa and the African diaspora has admitted she has lied about being Afro-Latina for years, when in fact she is a white Jewish woman from the suburbs of Kansas City."    And we see this again here (This time from Wikipedia): " Rachel Anne Dolezal  (born No...

1Thessalonians 5:1-11; Matthew 25:14-30 Next week is the end of the liturgical year, when we celebrate the Reign of Christ, or sometimes it is called Christ the King. It is when we look forward to the time when Christ will reign as the undisputed king over heaven and earth. Our Gospel reading is found in the context of other readings having to do with Jesus’ Second Coming as ruler and judge, and how we are to prepare for that moment. The parable before today’s reading is about the ten bridesmaids, which we dealt with last week. Five were wise and were prepared with enough oil to last through the night, but five were not wise and their oil ran out. While they were out buying more oil the groom arrived and the wedding began without them. The lesson is to be prepared for his arrival. Our reading from Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians reflects this-   “For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” (1 Thes 5:2). Next w...

  Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-20; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13 The parable Jesus tells fits a theme we find in the Old Testament, especially in the prophets. This is the idea of God and the people of God as a wedded couple. The image of God arriving to set things right at the end of human history is sometimes described as a wedding feast. So the idea of God being described as the groom, and God’s people are the bride, would be a familiar theme to Jesus' listeners. (For more on this see my essay on the Song of Songs here ) Interestingly, Jesus constantly places himself in the place of the groom, which is usually God's position. Like most of the parables, we get a much better appreciation of this ‘parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids’ if we understand the cultural background of the story. … In Jesus’ time, marriage had three steps. First, there was an engagement, which was a contractual agreement between a groom and the father of the bride. (Sorry, women). The secon...

This is an essay I wrote in university (2004?) while studying from my BA.               The Song of Songs has been enigmatic since its introduction into the canon of the Hebrew Bible. When Rabbi Akiva was questioned about the Song’s holiness he gave a surprising response; “Heaven forbid that any man in Israel ever disputed that the Song of Songs renders the hands unclean (i.e. is holy), for the whole world is not worth the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel, for all the Writings are holy, and the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies. (Mishnah Yadaim 3.5)” [1]    In the Song there is no mention of God.   Furthermore, the Song seems to be a sexually suggestive love song, making no reference to the couple even being married.   So, questioning the ‘holiness’ of the book appears to be appropriate.   One might expect the Rabbi to say “no it is not holy, do not read it”, or at most, that it barely qualifies. ...