Joseph, Son of Jacob

When St. John wrote the gospel that bears his name, the temple in Jerusalem was gone, destroyed by the Romans, & the earliest of Christians had been expelled from their community synagogues.  They were now gathering secretly in private homes & in the underground, the catacombs of Rome. In that environment, the spear thrust on…

In the midst of troubling times, it is helpful to look back to former days for a bit of guidance.  Here is the Gettysburg address, presented on 19 November 1863, just a few short months after the Civil War battle took place on those same grounds. “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought…

What is essential and necessary, and what is good and helpful? We are all self-quarantined these days, prohibited from gathering for worship together, from graduating together, from learning together, from drinking coffee together.  While smog around the world is dissipating and we are able to see more clearly and breathe more deeply, this crisis is…

On holdover from the tenure of the Rev. Dr. Robert Purcel, in the priest office, is an old dark painted crucifix.  Janice Purcel, when she visited sometime ago, was surprised to see it there on the credenza, behind the desk where Bob had placed it many years ago.  In times when the fruits of the…

From the region of Gilead, Israel, near Jericho, came a rare perfume that contained balsam (a species of pine) that is noted in ancient texts as a cure for pleurisy, pneumonia, epilepsy, vertigo, asthma, and coughing. The balm of Gilead was traded throughout the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The prophet Jeremiah in troubling times questioned: Is…

Readings – Isaiah 25: 6-9; Psalm 24; Revelation 21: 1-6a, John 11: 32-44 How many have ever visited Hyner View?  You go to Lock Haven, past the University, and west on Route 116, and turn off just a bit before Renovo.  There is Hyner View State Park, and to get to the summit you go…