Readings for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord - Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7;  Luke 3:15-16, 21-22;
It's odd, right?  Just last week Jesus was an infant receiving gifts from the Magi.  And here he is, all grown up and being baptized.  And we are still in the Christmas season.  How do we put this all together?  I'm glad that you asked.  Because it really all does fit.  This season points to where we stand right now.
Special thanks to Bridget Zenk for her composition and performing of our intake and outtake music.  And thank you for continuing to listen, share and rate this podcast.  I'm humbled at the places it's gone and for the notes I've received.  Thank you for your support.  Have a question or comment?  I can be reached at [email protected]

Readings for the Feast of Epiphany - Isaiah 60:1-6;  Matthew 2:1-12
We've heard these readings before.  Like family and close friends, they can become so familiar, we don't see or hear them anymore.  We already have them figured out.  But God often comes through the unexpected.  Like Luke, who had the first acknowledgment of Christ's role be proclaimed by shepherds, Matthew also has the outsider as the first to reveal Christ's Lordship.  But Matthew goes one step further.  He invites "new-agey" nature-reading foreigners to be the ones to actually see.  And when they come in contact w/ the religious elite of the time, they are seemingly patronized and sent on their way.  More crack pots coming through.  And those elites missed what was right in front of them. 
As always, special thanks to my daughter, Bridget, for her creating and performing of our intake and outtake music.  And continued thanks to all of you for inviting me into your lives - at least your headphones and car stereos.  I'm humbled and honored.  If you like the podcast, I invite you to rate it and/or pass it along to someone you think would also enjoy it.  Have a question or comment?  I can be reached at [email protected] 

Gospel Readings for the Feast of the Incarnation of our God (Luke 2:1-14) & the Feast of the Holy Family (Luke 2:41-52)
I know - a double shot of the Gospel on this episode.  Couldn't be more appropriate.  This week, we simply marvel in the humble, audacious and bold love of our God.  There is nowhere that God would rather be born this day than in your life and in your circumstances.  Yes, this was a gift for those living 2000 years ago.  But, as the angel reminds the shepherds, it is also a gift for all people.  That includes you and I.  So let's just take some more time and reflect on what a gift it is.  Oh yeah - and why not talk about the Holy Family while we are at it??
Special thanks to Bridget Zenk for her composition and performing of our intake and outtake music.  As always, thank you to you for listening.  This is episode 700.  I was never sure it would get past episode 7.  I'm humbled and blessed.  Have a question or comment?  I can be reached at [email protected]

Readings for the Fourth Sunday in Advent - Micah 5:1-4a;  Luke 1:39-45
Finally!  Mary takes center stage and Bethlehem is mentioned.  Just not in the way we might think.  The former has to do w/ someone else's birth and the latter w/ a prophecy.  But at least we are getting somewhere.  Just where, however, are we going?  Down.  That's where.  Into smallness.  Because that's precisely where God desires to reside.  Not in Rome or Greece.  Not in the Temple or the halls of Herod.  And to explain, we look at the story of Gideon.  
Special thanks to Bridget Zenk for her composition and performing of our intake and outtake music.  And as always, thank you to you for listening.  I'm in awe and so humbled.  May God be with you this Christmas season and always.  Have a question or a comment?  I can be reached at [email protected]

Readings for the 3rd Sunday in Advent - Zephaniah 3:14-18a; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:10-18
The Third Sunday in Advent is commonly referred to as Gaudete Sunday, a Latin word meaning "rejoice!"  And each of our readings invite us to do this very thing, w/ Paul pleading for us twice in the first sentence.  So why?  What is it we rejoice about?  As an expectant mother rejoices at the life that grows within her, so we rejoice at the nearness of our God.  And if the God of the Universe is so overcome with love for you and I this day that He is willing to dance before us, perhaps we can give ourselves a bit of a break and accept the fact that maybe, just maybe, we are lovable and worth the dance.  
Special thanks to Bridget Zenk for her composition and performing of our intake and outtake music.  And continued thanks to all of you for listening to and sharing this podcast with others.  I'm sincerely humbled.  Have a question or comment?  Feel free to send it my way at [email protected]  Blessed Advent, my friends. 

Readings for the Second Sunday in Advent - Baruch 5:1-9; Luke 3:1-6
I won't speak for others but only me.  And for me, it's easy to read the Scriptures and see the love of God working in and through others in a different time and place and think "I wish God would still act that way now."  But I think I miss the mark.  God does still act.  God is still working in and through others - including me.  And you.  In the Gospel of Luke we begin hearing the adult story of Jesus this week, and Luke sets it in a specific time and a specific place.  Not just "out there", but in reality.  God still does that.  He is still specific to our time and our places.  And God is still present in our reality, our experience, our geography today.  Right now.
Special thanks to Bridget Zenk for her composition and performing of our intake and outtake music.  And thank you to all of you for continuing to listen to this podcast and share it with others.  I'm incredibly humbled.  Have a question or comment?  I can be reached at [email protected]

Readings for the First Sunday in Advent - Jeremiah 33:14-16;  Luke 21:25-28, 34-36
We begin our new liturgical year with readings that sound an awful lot like the readings from last weekend, the close of our last liturgical year.  Why, exactly, is that?  Even more importantly, these readings which were speaking to particular situations back in the time of Jeremiah and Jesus continue to speak to our time and our individual lives.  We hear readings of hope and reality.  And the best part?  I have a guest speaker w/ me today as my co-host is none other than my daughter Bridget!
Special thanks to that same Bridget ("co-host") Zenk, for her composition and performing of our intake and outtake music.  And special thanks to all of you for continuing to listen and share this podcast with others.  I'm so grateful and humble.  Have a question or comment?  I can be reached at [email protected]

Readings for the Feast of Christ the King - Daniel 7:13-14;  John 18:33b-37
This weekend, we celebrate the Feast of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.  But it would be a tragedy if we only reflect upon this once a year.  Who is Lord of our life today, this very moment?  It's not an exercise in guilt, but one of choice and it's one we have to make every day.  And just what kind of a kingdom did this King point to anyway?
Special thanks to Bridget Zenk for her composing and performing of our intake and outtake music.  And thank you for continuing to listen and share this podcast with others who you think would benefit from it.  I'm humbled.  Have a question or comment?  I can be reached at [email protected]

Readings for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Daniel 12:1-3; Mark 13:24-32
As we draw nearer to the end of the Liturgical Year, our readings darken and we hear readings of The End of Time.  And that is w/ purpose.  Our liturgical calendar is rooted in time and time, indeed, is linear - moving toward an end point.  But there's more.  Time is also cyclical.  As individual human beings and as all things created by God, we experience ends within our lives, multiple times.  And those feelings can upend us, leaving us in darkness and feeling alone and unmoored.  Our readings today remind us that there is hope, even there, if we have but eyes to see.
Special thanks to Bridget Zenk for her composition and performing of our intake and outtake music.  And thank you to all of you for continuing to listen and share this podcast.  I'm so incredibly humbled.  Have a question or comment?  I can be reached at [email protected]  

Readings for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - 1 Kings 17:10-16;  Mark 12:38-44
The heroes of our readings today are two women who literally have nothing.  Nothing, that is, but a faith that you and I would be wise to give everything we have to gain.  We all know that we are called to be women and men of faith.  But just what does that mean?  It's not belief.  It's even more than trust.  It's having the courage to enter darkness and trust that our God waits for us on the other side.  
Special thanks to Bridget Zenk for her composition and performing of our intake and outtake music.  And thank you to all of you for listening to this podcast and sharing it with others.  I'm so incredibly humbled.  Have a question or a comment?  I can be reached at [email protected]