Reflections
These reflections are originally published in the weekly newsletter, the Net.
All reflections written by Fr. Bill Garrison and Fr. Hart Roussel will be archived here.
Scroll to the bottom of the page to read previous entries.
Prepare the way of the Lord
Prepare the way of the Lord: From the wilderness, John invites us to shape and participate in a world rooted in mercy. God is faithful to his promises, John reminds the people and rulers of his day, return to him and know mercy. Today, John’s message to us is the same, mercy transforms individuals, and it is individuals remembering mercy who transform communities. Are we prepared for a world shaped by mercy? Jesus was.
The Kingdom of God
Understanding the idea of the Kingdom of God can be illusive. Jesus said he came into the world to proclaim it. He, being an outstanding teacher, chose to use parables to attempt to get his points across. We will encounter a couple this Sunday. My understanding, for a simplistic explanation, is...
The Nature of God
What is God like? How would you describe God? Do you think your description would match that of others? Probably not huh? This coming Sunday is called Trinity Sunday. It celebrates the nature of God as described in the concept of the Trinity, which no one yet has been able to accurately describe....
“I am the Good Shepherd.”
We will be talking about a Good Shepherd as a metaphor for Jesus Christ this week. Please note that the text quoted above says am, not was. Jesus is the Good Shepherd today as well as he was when he first made the statement about himself. Jesus as the Good Shepherd has a long history. The figure...
Low Sunday
This Sunday is famously known as "Low Sunday". Historically church attendance plummets from the high of Easter Sunday the following week. Thinking about this prompted me to consider what the reaction of Jesus' disciples was after his resurrection. I imagine they felt a ton of relief and probably...
Fences
In ancient times there were a lot of rules for living. Most important, for our discussion, were the cleanliness laws. They covered items such as who a person might associate with and what people could properly eat, and what we needed to do to get God to hear our prayers. Then Jesus Christ came...
Authority
Have you noticed that when we say something is true people want to know how we know it is a fact? They want proof. Scholastically we must cite the writings and research of others to prove that we know what we are talking about. I have noticed that the press is fact-checking our politicians now,...
Come and See Continued
This past Sunday several people asked me to write something about finding Jesus in scripture. I call my process learning to SPELL. Each letter stands for a part of the system. Here is an explanation for each. Study scripture regularly. Read the New Testament. Starting at the beginning and reading...
Come and See!
Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." This snippet of conversation from this Sunday's gospel has great significance to me. First of all Nathanael doesn't have a lot of respect for the hometown of Jesus. That's pretty obvious. And in...
Well Here We Go
The gospel this week is from Mark. Mark is the gospel closest to the events marking the life of Jesus. It was written about 30 or 40 years after the resurrection. It's also written in simple language unlike the other gospels. The writer would have made a great witness in a trial and I find his...
The Logos
In the gospel for this coming Sunday, we encounter "Word". This is a translation from the Greek word "Logos" and doesn't even come close to expressing what the writer meant to say. A better understanding would be "the revelation of God in the world." I like to say that God tore the fabric of...