Authority
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In the Joys and the Junk
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7 min read
6. Through all the great upheavals in history, God has been with the people. The quintessential question of the confused is to ask “Where is God?” In the midst of tragedy, we ask it. “Where is God?” The presupposition of the question is that God isn’t there. But why? Because we first define God as the…
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Giving Grace
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8 min read
The hardest challenge Jesus gives those inside the church is to recognize that the saving grace is not about who we were before, but during and after. Proper 21A | Matthew 21:23-32 Before Jesus is teaching in the Temple and these chief priests and scribes question his authority, Jesus had to get there. When we…
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Anti-Institutionalism Just Jumped the Shark
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5 min read
We’re all anti-institutional these days I get it. You hate institutions. You want them all to go down. Buy local. Build it up around you. Fund those things you care about. Institutions do pretty well suck. I know. I’m a member of Generation X, the generation handed anti-institutional ID cards with our latchkeys. We’ve been…
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By What Authority?
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5 min read
Who authorized Jesus to teach? We shouldn’t forget that the chief priests and the scribes (in other words the Temple leadership) ask Jesus a pretty fair question: ‘By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?’ They didn’t authorize this. They don’t know him. Who is Jesus to…
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The purpose of a priest
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1 min read
We often get this confused. The purpose of a priest is not to be Jesus for you. Or play Jesus in the front of the room or to imitate Jesus so that you can be healed. The purpose of a priest is to share the love of Jesus and teach you how to share the love…
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I love you, Church, but we’ve got a problem. Sometimes it seems like you are addicted to tyrants and despots. Like those Hebrews asking for a king. Or else you are addicted to ineffectual and passive leadership. The kind easily manipulated by the whims of the powerful or chided in parking lots. You make it…