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Devouring Their Houses
Jesus doesn’t simply criticize the priests for their hubris, he exposes the whole system for its corruption, exploitation, and rejection of the poor. of poverty and hubris in the Temple Proper 27B | Mark 12:38-44 Less than a week after starting at my first congregation out of seminary, I went to my first clericus—a meeting of…
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Closing in on Justice
CLOSING IN ON JUSTICE The frustrating case of justice delayed, excuses made to slow the pace like cars in both lanes going 15 mph. Never passing, never making room. You imagine my outrage is an isolated incident and you, the right to slow my roll. Adversaries illustrated in India ink —black and white our only…
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Lions don’t want to eat straw
The Incarnation Is More Radical Than We Care To Admit. Advent 2A | Isaiah 11:1-10 Isaiah 11:1-3 A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel…
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Just do the right thing.
If we whittle down our faith, we are left with two base ideas: what we believe and what we do. There is nothing more traditional in Christian faith than arguing over which one is better. Betting on God. Blaise Pascal made my favorite case for belief. Unlike most apologetics, which argue the case for God’s…
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Suffering and Salvation – Liberation as the work of the community
A preacher was on vacation and came home to a flood “of Biblical proportions.” He spoke of needing to canoe out of his Louisiana house and escape the devastation. That the preacher is notorious for a sense of ill-will to many and is politically powerful gave the experience a sense of delicious irony. Proper 16C…
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Blurring the Lines – How Jesus Alters Expectations Of Justice
“Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” As much as I don’t want to preach on this gospel today, I fear for the thousands of churches and church goers who will wrestle with such a tricky and troubling passage. And how many…
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The Gospel of Nice
I made waves in a book group a few months ago when I said that the Gospel isn’t about being nice. Or kind. Or being “a good person.” Like Jesus says to the pious young man (who was doing all the right things to be “a good person”) you haven’t done everything. You still have stuff.…
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To Widen the Circle
Pentecost, with its loud, violent wind, its flaming tongues, and its utter chaos of voices which resound into a symphony of unity in diversity, is about GOD so utterly changing the game we still aren’t sure how to play it. The Spirit reveals and reconciles Pentecost | Acts 2:1-21 As Jesus ascends, two men appear and…