Author name: Essjay Peatoo

Do you ever celebrate a chair? Probably not, but we are not totally unfamiliar with the idea of a chair as a stand-in for its occupants, as well as for their role. I think of the bishop’s chair in a cathedral, for example (which is sometimes called a throne). It is usually a permanent fixture […]

Having warned his disciples of the future that lies ahead for him, Jesus now calls the crowds and his disciples together, and lets them know, in no uncertain terms, what following him entails (Mark 8:34 – 9:1): To be a follower of Jesus is to be ready to travel the way that Jesus went: “If

Since the beginning of Mark’s gospel, the question has been repeatedly asked: “Who is Jesus?”  Today we get the answer (Mark 8:27-33).  Like yesterday’s blind man, the previously blind and deaf disciples today show that they are beginning to see more clearly. Jesus himself asks the question that has been underlying all that has gone

We are approaching a high point in Mark’s gospel.  It is preceded by today’s strategically placed story (Mark 8:22-26).  At first glance it looks like a simple healing story of a blind man but, as in most of Mark’s miracles, there is a deeper theological meaning tucked inside. People bring a blind man to Jesus

The symbol of the flood (Genesis 6:5-8: 7:1-5,10) is familiar to us in our theology of Baptism: a cleansing, a promise to become our best selves for God. God “was grieved” that there was such “wickedness on earth.” The flood was not destruction for its own sake, or simply because God was powerful enough to

What more does God want of us?  In the first reading today (Genesis 4:1-15, 25), the story of Cain and Abel, no one really knows why God was pleased with Abel’s meat offering and was not pleased with Cain’s offering of the fruit of the earth.  Perhaps there is something “more pleasing” about a blood

In the political system of the United States, the President gets to select those persons he wishes to fill the various Cabinet positions in his administration.   He occasionally has the duty and opportunity to make a nomination to fill a vacancy on our Supreme Court. We are going through that Cabinet vacancy process right

Today the Man and the Woman experience the consequences of their disobedience to God (Genesis 3:9-24). It begins with a sad dialogue between God and the Man and the Woman. God is looking for them in the Garden, asking “Where are you?” God, of course, knows where they are, but he needs to elicit their

As I reflect on today’s readings, I am somewhat uncomfortable because in the first reading (Genesis 3:1-8) I am confronted with the question of guilt and shame. All of us experience guilt, that feeling of responsibility or remorse for an offense we have committed, the unwelcome feeling that comes when we succumb to temptation and

I love today’s Gospel story (Mark 7:24-30). Jesus is so clever and is always the teacher. In one story after another, Jesus is surprising his observers – who are primarily his disciples (and us). He is showing them how the Kingdom of God is upon them, and he is showing them how the Kingdom is