A reflection on Matthew 14:13-21, the gospel lesson for July 31st according to the Revised Common Lectionary. There is also a reflection for the Old Testament lessons for this same day here. He had just received word that John the Baptist was dead. Beheaded. Their families were close. Their mothers had gotten together when they were pregnant with each of them. They were both servants of God, sent to preach the Good News. Jesus had […]
I have this theory…and if I ever do that Doctor of Ministry in Congregational Development (after my PhD in New Testament and penning the great American novel…) my dissertation will be on my theory. Here it is: The collapse of the mainline denominations began in the middle of the last century when clerics became “professional managers” and churches started being run as businesses. I could say a lot about how churches absolutely positively shouldn’t be […]
A reflection on Genesis 32:22-31, the Old Testament lesson for July 31st according to the Revised Common Lectionary. A reflection on the Gospel lesson for the same day can be found here. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:31 Jacob sent everything and everyone away. Across the Jabbok. They were gone. He was alone. But, he wasn’t. One of the basic precepts that I insist on, […]
I forget when it was that I first stumbled on Rachel Held Evan’s blog. But, I do remember when I was hooked on it. During those strange days in May when every one was joking about it being the end of the world she wrote an amazing commentary on Harold Camping and his misguided predictions. It was just head and shoulders above anything else I had read previously on the issue—and it not only shifted […]
A reflection on Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52, the Gospel Lesson from the Revised Common Lectionary for July 24, 2011. I also have a reflection on the Old Testament lesson for the week. “What’s a tsumami?,” my seven year-old daughter Zoe asked. She had just walked into the family TV room and caught a glimpse of the morning news of Japan’s horrific earthquake before I could change the channel. She had asked what had happened, and we […]
This past Lent I didn’t “give up” anything, other than time. For, the Lenten spiritual discipline I chose was to read the entire Bible, cover-to-cover in 90 days. The “90” days thing was handy, in that the season of Lent is 40 days and the season of Easter is 50 days—so, voila! 90 days. I know that there’s a resource which you can buy [The Bible in 90 Days: Cover to Cover in 12 Pages […]
This is part 2 of 3… More and more I’m a believer that when we talk about salvation and damnation, heaven and hell – what we’re actually talking about, right there under the surface, is the character of God. What we believe happens to the souls of humanity after death says a lot about what kind of God we believe in. And, when we’re talking about hell and damnation, it’s maybe a little easier to […]
A reflection on Genesis 29:15-28, the Old Testament lesson from the Revised Common Lectionary for July 24, 2011. I also have a reflection on the Gospel lesson of the same day. Like countless liars before him, and countless liars after him, Laban stood there and bold-faced-lied to Jacob. And, like countless victims throughout the ages, Jacob bore the full brunt of the deceit. Seven whole years of his life had been spent working to earn […]
Last summer my parish had an evening discussion group (wittily titled “Caffeinated Theology”) which looked at “The Kingdom Experiment,” by The House Studio. The concept was simple enough–each week you look at one of the beatitudes, and then choose an “experiment” through the rest of the week to explore living some aspect of the beatitude in question. I think the week was “blessed are the poor,” because for my experiment I chose sleeping on the […]
There’s a lot of conversation lately about heaven, hell, salvation, and damnation. As I’ve said before, I think that’s a very good thing. The church ‘at large’ is in the midst of an age-old conversation over how God saves, who God saves, and therefore the very character of God. That’s not to say that the conversation is always going well. The “Rob Bell” Facebook fan page has degenerated–going from bad to worse. Mark Driscoll, during […]