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 »»

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 »»