Springs in the Wilderness

How do we keep our hope in the midst of the desert?

March 10, 2013 By 1 Comment

by Carol Howard Merritt

Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 43:16-21

For Sunday, March 17, 2013: Year B—Lent 5

The reports seem more desperate each month, as we watch how the climate changes. We know that the earth warms, icecaps melt, and habitats evolve.

As we think about what might come, we realize that India and China are moving from agriculture to industry and their growing populations are becoming increasingly dependent on energy. We dig deeper for coal and drill farther for oil as our global consumption grows. We fight wars over oil, using violence and death to plunder the limited resources.

Our anxiety increases as we realize that poorer regions of the globe, developing countries that do not use as much crude, will become more desperate with the changes. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Isaiah, Old Testament, YearC Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

The Poor Will Always Be With You

Why did Jesus say these frustrating words?

March 10, 2013 By 11 Comments

by Carol Howard Merritt

Gospel Reading: John 12:1-8

For Sunday, March 17, 2013: Year B—Lent 5

When I was a high school and college student, I spent my summers on mission trips. I went to amazing places like Uganda, Hong Kong, China, and the Philippines. I could write about mission tourism and the odd nature of trips where teenagers are sent to save the souls of foreigners through clumsy tracts and the Jesus film.

Cynicism Aside

But even with all of my cynicism, I cannot deny the impact that these trips had on me. They ripped me from my comfortable life as a middle class teen living on the beaches of Florida, and placed me in the ports of Cebu City, where tiny children begged to dive in the perilous water for small change. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, John, New Testament, YearC Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Searching for a Miracle

Why doesn’t faith always heal?

October 22, 2012 By 1 Comment

by Carol Howard Merritt

Gospel Reading: Mark 10:46-52

For Sunday, October 28, 2012: Year B—Ordinary 30

My father and I entered a huge concrete block building, crowded with people. My dad didn’t use a cane but he needed to, so he held the back of my neck. I was about nine-years-old and just the right size to be a human crutch. I walked slowly, with the weight of him leaning on me.

My father had a neurological condition that grew worse over time. He had no control over his lower body and moved his feet by swinging his arms and chest. Eventually he acquiesced to a cane, a walker, and a wheelchair. He fought each digression with a hearty denial. But his body never cooperated with his strong will. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Mark, New Testament, YearB Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Is there Wisdom in Fearing God?

January 22, 2012 By 16 Comments

What can we learn from this ancient understanding of our divine relationship?

by Carol Howard Merritt

Psalm Reading: Psalm 111

For Sunday, Jan. 29, Year B − Epiphany 4

In the midst of premarital counseling, I spoke to a young couple about the plethora of things that cause hardship in marriages—trying to discern and mark the bumps that might be in the road ahead.

Filled with Fear

We covered family of origin and attitudes toward money. We talked about children. Did they plan to have them? What if they weren’t able to have kids? What sort of parenting styles made sense to them? How would they discipline their child?

The groom-to-be looked at me steadily and said, “I was afraid of my dad. All he had to do was walk in the room and I was filled with fear. I never want my child to look at me the way that I looked at my father.”

When I had my own precious daughter, each time I looked at her sweet face, I felt consumed by my love for her. As she got older, and I noticed slight pangs of fear in her eyes, I hated them as much as I thought that I would.

God Had Teeth

I remember these moments when I read, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” The words make me wince. I grew up as a

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Old Testament, Psalms, YearB Tagged With: , , , , ,

Power Over Unclean Spirits?

January 22, 2012 By 7 Comments

What does this gospel message have to say to say to us today?

by Carol Howard Merritt

Gospel Reading:  Mark 1:21-28

For Sunday, Jan. 29, Year B − Epiphany 4

I was in college, on a short mission trip to Uganda, Africa. One evening, we were at a religious boarding school for girls, leading a service in a concrete block building. The humid night air flowed through the open windows, and the crickets sang in the background of our liturgies. At the end of the service, a timid young teenager asked one of the leaders if he could pray for her. Of course, he did.

Exorcism

It was not long into the prayer, when she began to tremor and scream. It was more than a super-sized tantrum. It seemed like something quite outside of her took over her being. And we spent the next two hours in the middle of an exorcism, with voices, deep with authority commanding that the evil spirit come out of this young woman’s body.

I stood, understanding the cliché about a person’s hair standing on end for the first time. I whispered pleas that God would protect her mind and body, that God would somehow calm the brutal storm erupting in her.

Matter-of-fact

Later, the British headmistress sidled up to me. She smiled and said with a voice I would expect to hear narrating a bright, cheerful

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Mark, New Testament, YearB Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Glorifying Suffering?

September 18, 2011 By 4 Comments

The dark side of preaching the cross of Christ.

by Carol Howard Merritt

Epistle Reading: Philippians 2:1-13

For Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011: Year A−Ordinary 26

I have a friend whose life was shattered by sexual abuse. Then, after a few years, I watched as she slowly put the pieces back together. Now, she is a beautiful testament to wholeness.

You Can, Because I Did

When I spoke to her about her healing process, she explained how she was able to overcome the tragedy when she became a therapist. She realized how her experience allowed her to help others heal from their sexual abuse.

Whether she would say the actual words or not, she would be able to stand beside them, in their grief, agony and betrayal, and communicate, “I know how you’re feeling. I know the pain. I have been there. You can heal from this. I know you can, because I did.”

Showing Solidarity?

There is something powerful about having someone stand next to us in our difficulties. When the alcoholic tells stories in his sobriety or when the sheltered woman can recall her days on the streets, there is potency in the shared experience of hardship. There is strength in solidarity. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, New Testament, Philippians, YearA Tagged With: , , , , ,

Who Gives Us the Authority?

September 18, 2011 By 9 Comments

The question of power echoes throughout history.

 by Carol Howard Merritt

Gospel Reading: Matthew 21:23-32

For Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011: Year A−Ordinary 26

As a high school senior, I attended a large, nondenominational congregation where I felt a call to go into the ministry. I was excitedly getting ready for four years of religious studies when I went to the Sunday night church service one last time to say goodbye to my friends.

Call from Elsewhere

As the service began, my giddiness quickly faded and my heart began to ache. A male church member also happened to be going into the ministry. He didn’t have a degree and would not be earning one—but he would attend a six-week church-planting program, where he would learn everything he needed to know to be a good pastor. The hour was dedicated to surrounding him, blessing him, and sending him off.

I drove home, sorting out my experience. I didn’t expect any grand ceremony, but it was difficult to be completely ignored.

My evangelical church didn’t believe that women ought to be ministers, so there was no reason for them to recognize the calling blazing inside of me. But I couldn’t disregard it, because it didn’t seem to come from my church. It originated somewhere else. After a few years of struggling, my theology changed and I sought ordination in the Presbyterian Church (USA). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Matthew, New Testament, YearA Tagged With: , , , , ,

Servant or Child?

May 2, 2011 By 2 Comments

How Do We Understand Our Relationship With God?

by Carol Howard Merritt

Psalm Reading: Psalm 116

For Sunday, May 8, 2011: Year A - Easter 3

I read The Handmaid’s Tale when I was in college. I’m a huge fan of Margaret Atwood. She is full of prophetic vision as she details dystopia. And after reading the book, I had a creepy concern that history just might repeat itself. Of course, the story has been a thread of varying strength throughout human history–there have been women who were domestic servants who were used as sexual slaves to bear children for their masters.

Servant? Child? Sex Slave?

I cringe at the thought. But, of course, Atwood did not introduce me to the idea of the handmaid. I had been reading about these types of relationships for many years, because I was a student of the Bible. I know that we can point to many places in our Scripture where women have been subjugated as sexual servants or concubines. It makes me wince when I read the texts. And yet, in Psalm 116, the poet seems to use this relationship as a metaphor to describe his relationship with God. He is the child of God and God’s handmaid. And as such, he is God’s servant.

Wait. The relationship has to be more complicated than that. Is he also God’s child?

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Old Testament, Psalms, YearA Tagged With: , , , , ,

Incarnation, Revelation or Disorientation

May 2, 2011 By 11 Comments

Why Didn’t They Recognize Jesus?

by Carol Howard Merritt

Gospel Reading: Luke 24:13-35

For Sunday, May 8, 2011: Year A - Easter 3

I was reaching for the handle of the lobby door when I saw the back of his head through the glass. I gasped for breath and my heart started beating faster. I was elated and scared all at the same time. The split-second sight of Phil touched an emotional response deep within me, and it took a couple more seconds for my intellect to catch up. My mind collided with my gut when Phil turned around.

It wasn’t him. It was someone else entirely. That made sense, and I felt better, even though the exhilaration drained from me.

I had been “seeing” Phil everywhere. Even though he had been dead for a month, I didn’t want to believe it. He committed suicide when he was so vital and strong. Phil was at the beating heart of every party, so I couldn’t quite imagine him, still and lifeless, in the bottom of that Jeep.  When his life was cut short like that, it was so tragic that my head kept playing games on me. I would recognize him in a crowd moving onto the elevated train, or he would be standing at the back of the bus during rush hour, or he would be waiting in the lobby of our apartment building. Just as quickly as I would recognize him, his face would vanish and morph into another man’s visage.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Luke, New Testament, YearA Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Collapsing Our Dichotomies

February 6, 2011 By 7 Comments

In Defense of Flesh, Blood, Fat, and Dust

by Carol Howard Merritt

Epistle Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

For Sunday, February 13, 2011: Year A – Epiphany 6

I grew up in Florida, in a little beach town. I loved most things about being there—the brilliant beauty of the rising sunrise, the endless hunt for delicate shells, and the peace-inducing sound of the rolling waves. I long for these things when I’m caught in the anxiety-ridden culture of D.C.

So Exposed

But I do have some residual effects that I don’t appreciate when I think about growing up near that beach. Though I loved spending time on that shore more than any other place, I learned to hate my body there. People don’t wear many clothes in Florida. Perhaps it was the heat, perhaps it was just being a teenager, or perhaps it was because I felt so exposed all the time, but when I looked in the mirror I loathed what I saw. I despised the curves that developed and any ounce of fat. I deeply detested my flesh.

When I think back at all my friends who had eating disorders, I’m pretty sure that I wasn’t alone. The images of beauty in our country are often emaciated, and the fact that I didn’t match up to this gaunt perfection became clearer each time I donned my bathing suit. I knew that something was wrong as I watched as the smart, gifted girls around me struggle to stave off starvation and self-mutilation (usually cutting).

[Read more...]

Filed Under: 1 Corinthians, Featured, New Testament, YearA Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts

New from sparkhouse