[View the story “A Christmas Sermon Storify” on Storify]
I listened to Rob Bell’s interview of Peter Rollins on God once while taking a walk on the beach. And then I listened to it almost twenty times more. It’s THAT good. And, it got me thinking. So, the above video is a short summary of Pete’s work, and then some thoughts of my own which build on top of that.
You can pick up the book here.
I’m on sabbatical right now, and my “main” project is about creating a robust spirituality of hope. Below is small piece of this project, which is still very much in process. By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept. When the Hebrew Bible wants to deal with pain, it turns to poetry. Psalm 137 is one of those poems that scrapes the emotion off the sides of the human condition. It starts with […]
A reflection on Philippians 2:1-13, the epistle lesson for Proper 21a, according to the Revised Common Lectionary, which examines Paul's mystical theology of God being within us.
Let us create humankind in our image… We are created in God’s image. And, the most important word there might just be “we.” There are elements of the Divine Image that we only bear when we are together, because God is a Triune Fellowship. Let us create humankind in our image… NOT “Let ME create humankind in MY image.” God IS a community—what we call the Trinity—and so when we come together as a community […]
I have this wonderful painting hanging in my office, “Cimabue after Disney” by the Rev. Dr. Dennis McNally, SJ. Jesus is muscled, teary-eyed, and dead. Blood trickles down his hands and feet. He’s also naked, and exposed just enough that that’s the one thing people notice when they see it for the first time. Subtly, at the bottom of the painting is a less-known feature. A mouse, with a dark halo, lapping up some of […]
The following is a reflection on Luke 10:25-37, the Gospel Lesson appointed for Proper 10 Year C, according to the Revised Common Lectionary. The bulk of this post is also an excerpt from my book, Going to Hell. When Jesus is approached by the rich young ruler and asked, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” the answer Jesus gives is pretty stunning: You know the commandments: You shall not murder; You shall not […]
The following is a reflection on the First Sunday of Advent, Year C. The Day of the Lord. The end. The Second Coming. The Parousia. In our day such things are wholly owned subsidiaries of Hollywood and people so far off their rockers that they are the very definition of “laughingstock.”
A reflection on Christ the King Sunday, especially for year B of the Revised Common Lectionary. Pope Pius XI inaugurated Christ the King Sunday in 1925, when the authority of the church was evidently waning in the world. Of course nearly ninety years later, the “authority” of the church—or even just the “place” of the church—in the world is almost laughable. We are all but irrelevant in the power structures of the community of nations. […]