Musings from the High Desert

Musings from the High Desert


Latest Episodes

Messianic Prophecy
December 28, 2020

Here's what may be a different way to look at the infancy narrative in Matthew (with and eye to Luke and John into the bargain), and a different way to conceive of "messianic prophecy.

Raised on the Sabbath
November 30, 2020

Luke 13:10-17 is a simple passage with two major lessons for us. First, the leader of the synagogue was wrong: healing and compassion are the hallmark of God, and they should not be withheld even on the Sabbath. Secondly, the woman who had been inform for

The Holy Spirit
November 29, 2020

In this tightly wrapped package from St. Paul we hear about the work of the Holy Trinity in the church, in our lives, and in the world. In a few short sentences, St. Paul gives us a basic understanding that we can learn and see at work in our own lives.

The Rich Fool
November 23, 2020

The Rich Fool is one of the pivotal parables of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, which is the only Gospel in which it occurs. There is a clear turn in the parable which leads to the rich man as being called "fool," but the word itself means more than simply a

The Good Samaritan
November 16, 2020

The parable of the "Good Samaritan" needs a new look for our age. Specifically we have to look again at how the original audience would have heard this, and then we will be prepared to hear it for our time. Listen in.

Unmercenary Saints Zenaida and Philonella
November 02, 2020

We remember the unmercenary saints in the proskomedia—Cosmas and Damian, especially, whom we commemorate this weekend—but I would draw your attention to the earliest of the unmercenaries, the sisters Zenaida and Philonella. There are lessons for us here.

Learn Their Names
October 26, 2020

In Luke 16, we find the only parable in which a name is given to a character: Lazarus - "God helps." The contrast with the rich man who remains unnamed is very important as we consider the meaning of this parable for our lives. We're called to not only he

More Than One Way to be Raised from Death
October 12, 2020

In Luke 7:11-16, we have to look again at the recipient of the healing. Widows had an ambivalent place in society at this time: on one hand they were sidelined for a number of reasons, and yet the injunction to care for widows from the Old Testament perta

Generosity Grounded in the Emptying of Christ
October 11, 2020

We have to consider 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9 together to get the full message St Paul has for us. The generosity he expects from the Corinthians is grounded in the emptying of Christ to which he has referred at 8:9 (and which we find also at Philipp

The Golden Rule
October 05, 2020

Our Lord starts from the so-called "Golden Rule" but develops it in a way that clearly reflects how we as Christians need to respond to it: through emphasis upon an ethic of compassion and gregariousness, not based on reciprocity, which is the way of the