Cynthia Lapp
Palm Sunday Reflection
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
Our element today from creation is fire; our biblical story is from John about footwashing -with water. It is easy to see that water puts out fire – but today, in the midst of the pandemic, at the beginning of Holy Week, instead of water putting out fire, these two combined point to suffering. I […]
Ordinary Transfiguration
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
For the past three weeks we have been hearing passages from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount as found in the gospel of Matthew. Today we skip ahead in Matthew’s account of Jesus’ life to another experience that happened on a mountain, the transfiguration. For the writer of Matthew, Jesus is the new Moses. Since Moses […]
On The Border
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
I have been back from New Mexico and Texas, from the borderlands, for two weeks. Thank you for your prayers and support as I traveled. Your care and concern accompanied me. It was a wonderful trip and yet it is sometimes difficult to know how to talk meaningfully about my experience there. The lectionary passage […]
The Power and Humility of Baptism
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
I remember my baptism. I was scared to choose it and scared not to choose it. My questions and doubts about the way things were explained (or unexplained) in church overwhelmed me. But, as the pastor’s kid, I felt I had to see the membership class through to completion along with the others in the […]
Epiphany 20/20
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
The epiphany season is the hinge point of a new year, when things can come into new focus. It is one more gift of the season; a chance to look back and look forward. Matthew does this: he starts his account of Jesus’ life with a look back at Jesus’ ancestors, from Abraham through to […]
Waiting For Who?
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
(sung) Wait on the Lord, God’s time is near. Wait on the Lord, be strong, take heart. It’s the third Sunday of Advent and we are still waiting. What are we waiting for? John the Baptizer is waiting, though his situation is much less comfortable than what most of us experience. John is in prison. […]
What Are We Waiting For?
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
What are you waiting for? This is the question we will be asking together this Advent and Christmas season. (A bunch of other Mennonites across the country are also asking this question.) What are we waiting for? On the one hand, it is simple, we are waiting for Christmas. Of course. On the other hand, […]
Christ Our Monarch/Cristo Nuestro Monarca
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
Bienvenidos to our friends from San Mateo/Saint Matthews. Today is the last Sunday of the liturgical year. Our Episcopal friends know this. Mennonites don’t keep track of these things quite so much. Next week we begin Advent, when we once again wait and watch with renewed intensity for God to appear among us. Hoy […]
Vision Amidst Violence
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
“Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.” This description from Habakkuk is all too real. My head and heart have been full the past ten days, full of the wrongdoing and violence of the police shooting less than a mile from […]
Global Warning
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
These two texts, taken together, give us more than enough to grapple with this morning. In the global context, we are considered wealthy, even quite wealthy. What might we hear in these ancient texts? The epistle called I Timothy is purported to be written by Paul to Timothy, though many scholars believe it was written […]