Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B, RCL)

Nine trans Christians tell their stories.

Our call is a close call, one that draws us close to the sharp edges of life. "While we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake."

I used to think that the end of Samuel’s story was when he learns to listen to God. I wasn’t curious at all about what God has to say.

"Remember the sabbath" is a costly commandment. Our culture’s assault on it extends far beyond Sunday.

I often feel that my whole time in ministry has been one when the word of the Lord is rare and visions not widespread.

Here in Tidewater, Virginia, we make our way from city to city via a series of tunnels. As we approach each tunnel a series of signs warn us: “No HAZMATS” and “HAZMATS must exit here.” Trucks carrying hazardous materials of one sort or another provide a danger anywhere, but in tunnels the risk is magnified.

John Calvin grounded our need to know God in our createdness: "What is the chief end of human life?" he asked, and answered, "To know God by whom we were created." This yearning is not the same as our need to "know" other human beings.

From where does Nathanael's confession, his insight, come?

If you’re Eli, you’re not sleeping that well when the boy comes trotting in to disturb you with his nonsense.

Reading the call of Samuel, one wonders why the lectionary confronts us with such a dread epiphany.