Category: art
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What might we expect?
The Last Sunday after the Epiphany—February 15, 2026 Exodus 24:12-182 Peter 1:16-21Matthew 17:1-9Psalm 2or Psalm 99 The Sunday before Lent begins, the Church invites us on a curious excursion, and in the image above by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, we see Christ leading three disciples on this same journey. The Transfiguration of…
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On Being a City on a Hill
The Fifth Sunday afther the Epiphany—February 8, 2026 Isaiah 58:1-9a, [9b-12]Psalm 112:1-9, (10)1 Corinthians 2:1-12, [13-16]Matthew 5:13-20 Although my field is theological aesthetics, I teach church history (technically, historical theology, which makes it not so far off from theology). We recently covered the Council of Nicaea where, at the behest…
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Call & Response 5—my poems!
“On Emerging—Strangely, Alive” “Restoring a Sentimental Wheelbarrow with Rust” In 2025, I was invited for the third time to participate in Call & Response, a fantastic program of the Grosse Pointe Congregational Church’s Arts Ministry. The premise of the program is that poets and visual artists respond to each other’s…
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Simple. But not easy.
The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany—February 1, 2026 “Lord, who can dwell in your tabernacle?” the Psalmist (rhetorically) inquires. His answer is daunting: Whoever leads a blameless life and does what is right, who speaks the truth from his heart.There is no guile upon his tongue; he does no evil…
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The First Sunday after the Epiphany
The Baptism of ChristYear A—January 11, 2026Readings:Isaiah 42:1-9Acts 10:34-43Matthew 3:13-17Psalm 29 In the West, we call this feast the Baptism of Our Lord, or something similar. In the East, it is the Theophany—manifestation of God—because, for the first time in history, the Holy Trinity is revealed. God the Son is…
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Epiphany
Year A—January 6, 2026 Readings: The image above is a very small piece housed at the Met. It’s a mere 5.75 x 4.5 inches (14.6×11.4 cm), though the frame it’s in probably almost doubles the size. That small size seems appropriate: Like the magus shown on his knees adoring the…
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The Second Sunday after Christmas
Years A—January 4, 2026 Happy New Year! And Merry Christmas. The readings for this Sunday are: Since these are the same readings assigned to all three years of the lectionary cycle, I will use the first Gospel listed for today. (Additional note: I will cover the Feast of the Holy…
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Advent II
Year A—December 6, 2025 Readings:Isaiah 11:1-10Romans 15:4-13Matthew 3:1-12Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,and a branch shall grow out of his roots. So begins the reading from Isaiah this week. Christians have understood this passage in light of Jesus, who the Gospel writers cast as…
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The First Sunday of Advent
Year A – November 30, 2025 Note: I am beginning a series of blogging on the Sunday Eucharistic lectionary—the Revised Common Lectionary as used in the Episcopal Church—paired with artwork. This project has its origins in bulletins I used to make for St. Andrew’s Church, Livonia, although I wrote much…
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Squirrels!
Two poems about those adorable pests So, I have a hole in my roof. My 101-year-old Detroit home has one of those very typical additions, a kitchen nook with a room above it. On the second floor, that creates a room off the bedroom I use as my office. It’s…
The Sound 