Homily: Christmas 2020

Julian Tao Knipper

Luke, who wrote this Christmas narrative we hear every year, mentions twice that this baby was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manager – and that this was a sign.  And it is this sign that gives us a powerful message this night – a sign that breaks open the meaning of Christmas!

What is this sign? And what is Christmas really all about?

Check it out….

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Homily: 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

This weekend’s Gospel of the vineyard landowner paying a full day’s wages to those who worked all day as well as those who worked for only an hour has us often crying out, unfair…echoing all those times in our lives when we feel the same way – that life is just unfair.

While I still mourn the recent tragic death of my 3 year old grandson, it is he and my other three grandchildren who give me a continuing gift that allows me to better understand this Gospel…and how to better recognize God in our lives.  What is that gift and what is the real meaning of this Gospel?  Check it out!

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Homily: Christmas 2018

The the birth of Christ is God’s deepest intention to love.  Jesus is the ‘yes’ to God’s love – reminding us that God is already here and now…always ready to be with us in our becoming something new. Christmas is a time for us to move out of darkness...by beginning to see with a new set of eyes the glory of the God that shines around us.

May your days be filled with the blessing of the Christ Child and your New Year filled with awe and wonder!

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For the readings of the Nativity of the Lord: click here

Homily: 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

Same pay for those who work a full day versus those who work only an hour?  What was Jesus thinking?  This is “Good News”?

Like many other parables, on the surface this one seems to make no sense.  But dig down a bit, and try to think more like my grandsons and you will begin to see and feel the point that Jesus was making…as he describes God’s generous love for all of us.

Check it out…

 

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Click here for the readings of this Sunday

Homily: 5th Sunday of Lent

As we come into the final weeks of our Lenten journey– the question on my mind is: How well do we see Christ in our lives?   

Unfortunately I think many people miss the opening line in this week’s Gospel which starts out saying some Greeks came to worship at the Passover Feast and they asked to see Jesus - and their query seems to be more than just star-crazed gentiles looking to get a glimpse of Jesus. But I would guess the answer Jesus gives them was more than they were looking for.

So how can Tim Shriver, Special Olympics and Kodak help us make sense of this week’s Gospel?

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Click here for the scripture readings