Mother Claire's Sermons

There’s a popular icebreaker game that I would bet most of us have played, even if you, like me, haven’t played it since childhood: telephone. We probably don’t play it as adults because HR might have problems with us getting so close to one another’s ears. But if you haven’t played telephone, the first person whispers a message into the next person’s ear, who whispers it to their neighbor, on down the line until the last person announces what message they received. The final message is usually vastly different from the original, leading to laughter throughout the group. Today’s text from Genesis mostly contains a transition. Last week we heard through verse 10. What is missing between that text and this week is that after the men tell Abraham that Sarah is to have a son, the author reminds the readers that Abraham and Sarah are old, beyond childbearing years, (complete with my favorite Biblical euphemism - “it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women” - simply meaning she...

On December 8, 1950 my grandfather received a letter. As he would tell the story, it began this way, “Greeting: Having submitted yourself to a Local Board composed of your neighbors for the purpose of determining your availability for training and service in the armed forces of the United States, you are hereby notified that you have now been selected for training and service in the Army.” Family story has it that Grandpa’s response to this draft notice was, “I need better neighbors.” Grandpa spent two years in Korea. He commented that he’d never been colder in his life - which is saying something coming from a farm boy from Waverly. The episode of MASH where they’re all fighting over a pair of long johns would have been true to the freezing Korea experience. But better neighbors and frigid winters aside, Grandpa was always proud of his service. Although he was not enthusiastic to report, he had military honors at his funeral. My grandpa’s relationship with the Army was complicated, as...

A 22-year-old Chicago White Sox fan was banned indefinitely from all Major League Baseball ballparks on Wednesday after he heckled Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte so cruelly that he brought Marte to tears, yelling derogatory comments about his mother who died in a car accident. News sources are not reporting on what, exactly, was said. Which is good. We don’t need a direct quote to know that his actions were unacceptable. Ketel Marte is 31 years old. He’s a grown man. He has been in the league for 11 years. So he’s been heckled. He’s heard trash talk. Especially in baseball, where there are quiet enough moments to make out a single voice from the crowd, you don’t make it that far if you don’t have some pretty thick skin. My heart breaks to think about how awful that fan must have been to bring him to tears. Marte’s teammates and manager responded by showing their love for him. His manager told him, “I love you and I’m with you and we’re all together and you’re not alone...