Let’s Approach God With Boldness
The story of Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman is a challenging story on the surface. But what if we accept that we don’t know the tone or context of the conversation and give Jesus the same grace we expect from God?
Celebrating The Eucharist
The Rev'd Michael Angel Molina was guest preacher and celebrant at Nativity Cathedral in Bethlehem, PA on September 8th, 2024. Fr. Mike was ordained a deacon there in June of 2023. It was his profound honor to return as a priest to preach and preside.
Jesus and the Closet
What do you do when even you're own family doesn't understand you? This is a challenge many in the Queer community have to consider. In the Mark 3:20-35 Gospel reading for the Proper 5 Year B pericope, Jesus's family and the legal leaders of his town attempt to silence his ministry. Father Michael Angel Molina likens this attempted silencing of Jesus's ministry to trying to force Jesus into the closet. But closets are made for clothes, not people. Father Mike uses his Queer Theology lens to reaffirm the Queer community amidst a resurgence of threats and violence, and he affirms that Queer people are part of Jesus's extended family.
Parable of the Unjust Manager
In his last sermon at his sending parish before internship and ordination, Father Mike tackled the difficult passage in Luke 16 of the Parable of the Unjust Manager. Father Mike applied this text to an issue the country was discussing at the time: the President’s plan to cancel a portion of student debt for most Americans. Father Mike concludes that as Christians, when we find ourselves in positions of power in the secular world, we should use them to make our communities more equitable rather than to enrich our own selves. In doing so, maybe — just maybe — Jesus will also promote us to from managers of wickedness to wise and prudent.
Who are we and who are we becoming?
Father Mike intricately weaves together lectionary readings about Joseph's turn of fate from slavery to becoming a government official in Egypt, Paul's struggle to explain bodily resurrection to a flock of believers revulsed by the idea, and Jesus's commandments to love our enemies. The common theme here is humanity at its worst and its best, and how following Jesus's commandments can make old things new and bring all things into perfection by the One who made all things. Father Mike also shares a story for Black History Month as well as a vision for becoming what Dr King called 'The Beloved Community.'