The story of God and humanity is a covenant-story. And the story tells us, and shows us, over and over again, that God always seeks to be in relationship with us. And, admittedly, the story also shows how we always try to wriggle out of the deal. And, yet, God never stops the pursuit.
And here, in the 17th chapter of Luke, Jesus takes his disciples to a place that is in-between. They aren't in the land of the Samaritans. And they aren't home either. Where are they? They're nowhere. They're everywhere. As much as liminal periods are opportunities for danger, they are also opportunities for growth. Liminal periods are places where we can grow, where we can 'find ourselves,' and where we can orient our lives to shape what the next room we'll inhabit will look like. Where are we going? Where is God taking our lives? When we're beneath the limnus we can take the opportunity to find out. To ask God. To make it happen.
(The following is an excerpt from a book I’m working on. Should be finished soon…) There’s a fantastic scene in the third chapter of the Gospel of Luke where we’re introduced to the wild-eyed prophet, John the Baptist. Crowds gathered around him wondered if he was the One who was sent by God to save them and the whole world. John greeted these curious onlookers who were coming to be baptized with these words: You […]
What’s that they say about ‘best laid plans?’ Months ago I had planned this Sunday as a ‘welcome back’ Sunday where we’d have all the kids in church, and have them come up and get involved in the sermon… There’d be a tear in every mother’s eye, and the fall program year would be kicked off successfully. And then a few weeks ago I checked the Gospel lesson of the day. Ooops. Nothing like telling […]
Imagine going to the store and buying a box of 100 crayons in preparation for your children going back to school. You bring your shopping home, you sling your bag of goods onto the table, and you take out the box of crayons. You open up the box of crayons… and there are only 99 of them. One has gone missing. You were sure that they were all there when you bought them. The crayons […]
It would probably be safe to say that the typical Christian in today’s world doesn’t read an entire book of the Bible in a day. And even safer to say this usually doesn’t happen before lunch But, on this Sunday, that exactly what our congregations will be treated to – or just about anyway. Our epistle lesson is from the Paul’s Letter to Philemon – or should I say that It’s the entire epistle, save […]
Old Testament law dictates what can be eaten, and what cannot be eaten: lamb but no lobster, steak but no shrimp, summer vegetables but no swine. Of course, these rules seem odd and foreign to a Christian audience that happily and readily eats broiled lobster and bacon-wrapped shrimp. The odd-nature of these rules, and the fact that they seemingly have absolutely nothing to do with our lives and faith, contributes to the shunning of the […]
But, about an hour later I was in an ambulance taking me to the emergency room, not far from where Washington wintered with his troops. I was fine. I had strained my back, and I just had to take it east for a few days. That wasn't going to be so hard to do with the narcotic pain killers and the muscle relaxers that I was prescribed. I could barely talk and gesture at the same time. I was fine, sure, but I couldn't move. Everything was difficult. I had trouble feeding myself, going to the bathroom, and walking up and down the stairs. I had trouble laying down in bed, and I had trouble getting out of bed.
“What stress I am under.” Jesus felt stress. Jesus was, in the modern vernacular, stressed out. Of course he was, he was on his way to his death. His death bore the sins and weight of the whole world. You’d be stressed too. But, it’s not a common subject, to talk about Jesus’ stress. As I write this, I’m sitting in the Cuxa Cloister, in The Cloisters – the branch of the Metropolitan Museum of […]
And so, here I sit, in a chic New York City restaurant, overlooking the Hudson River (ok, I had a salad...), and ready to go back into the safe and beautiful confines of The Cloisters... and here I sit typing on my iPad, and periodically checking my email and Facebook on my iPhone... And what I have to ruminate on is "sell your possessions..." Oh man.