By Brian Volck

As We Watch by Brian Volck (2/23/2017)
...ary proclaims it on the Sunday before Lent while the Catholic Lectionary does so on the Second Sunday of Lent. Both lectionaries give the First Sunday of Lent over to the temptation of Jesus in the desert. Why should the Transfiguration story – which each of the synoptic gospels places about midway in the course of things – mark our yearly return to the Lenten journey? Standard answers include ...
Disowning the Right Things by Brian Volck (11/30/2016)
...rtain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road...
Lost Sheep and Broken People by Brian Volck (9/6/2016)
... into life’s ambiguities, hadn’t yet recognized the power of my own desires, hadn’t yet read enough theology – Augustine in particular. When I understood idolatry as getting the order of my loves wrong, specifically by desiring (and thus secretly worshipping) something more than God, I saw false gods everywhere. Nearly all recorded history – from the founding of ancient Sumer to the unedifying...
Snaring Satan by Brian Volck (6/29/2016)
...s I might to make it otherwise, I have a modern mind. Like many others, I don't know if the Hebrew, S-t-n, “the adversary or accuser,” or the Greek, diabolos, “the slanderer,” can still be understood a personal, superhuman enemy of God Rather than catalogue modern answers to that question, I’ll pose a riddle: “Is Satan’s first deception persuading us that he exists or that he doe...
Learning to be Sheep by Brian Volck (4/13/2016)
...ding a flock (the latter a frequent stand-in for the people of Israel) recurs often. In the Old Testament, shepherd imagery may point to God, the promised Messiah, or human leaders appointed by God: prophets, priests, and kings. Some of those human shepherds are said to have scattered their sheep, as in <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=327505663">Jeremiah 23:1-6</a> and <a href="http://bible.o...
Not Yet at the Wedding Banquet by Brian Volck (1/12/2016)
...l positions in direct contradiction to one another. That details of the wedding at Cana passage – an episode that appears only in John’s gospel and designated by the author as the first of Jesus’s signs – should be interpreted variously by different ecclesial traditions comes as no surprise. Traditions shape not only what we do and believe, but how we see, read, speak, and hear. What troubles ...
Where Mercy and Justice Meet by Brian Volck (9/30/2015)
...om Job with a theologically problematic encounter between God and Satan and an unkind reference to women. You decide if that’s safer to preach on than God’s fashioning the woman from the man’s rib. Happy is the preacher observing World Communion Sunday this week. God knows – and we take as a matter of faith – that Scripture is meant to help and unite, not hinder and divide, but these selection...
The World We've Made by Brian Volck (7/1/2015)
... not even past." -William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun Whatever your opinion of Barack Obama, you can’t deny the last full week of June was kind to him, climaxing on Friday as he celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision on same sex marriage and delivered a moving eulogy for Clementa Pinckney, killed in the terrorist attack on Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. I’ll let...
No Weapon But Grace by Brian Volck (4/20/2015)
...erious demand. Even today, when I think of my now nineteen year-old daughter, I hear Helena, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, saying, “though she be but little, she is fierce.” I stepped to the threshold of her room and peeked in to reassure myself that my daughter wasn’t in distress, but that was too much for her. She sat bolt upright from her pillow, glared at me with what I recognize...
Becoming Human by Brian Volck (3/25/2015)
...e, have read Mark’s gospel in anything but a superficial or tendentious way. Mark’s Jesus dies horribly, nailed to an imperial torture device, abandoned by his male disciples (though not by some of the women) and even, his words imply, by the Father. He’s buried hurriedly, and if the original text ends, as in the earliest complete manuscripts, at chapter 16, verse 8, with the women trembling, ...
Assumed and Healed by Brian Volck (1/7/2015)
...lf to a wading John, but we get some sense that Jesus’ arrival is both anticipated and in need of explanation. Why does he undergo baptism of repentance? Have we’ve heard the story too often to grasp its strangeness? Jesus, like us in all things but sin (see Hebrews 2:17 and 4:15), joins the sinners’ ritual of publicly displaying need of forgiveness.  Even picturing the flesh an...
Learning to Live Like Sheep by Brian Volck (11/18/2014)
... spirit whenever I return. It was in the high desert of the Navajo Nation that I awakened to the practical significance of images so resonant for the desert-dwellers who wrote the Bible. To see a line of cottonwoods, their green leaves trembling in the faintest desert breeze, proclaim how deep roots find life-giving water, is to know the faithful confidence of “a tree planted by a river.” (Psa...
The Unfairness of God’s Justice by Brian Volck (9/27/2014)
... creation myth for Rawls’ social contract. Rawls asks his reader to imagine a meeting where all parties choose a common social structure from behind a “veil of ignorance.” No one knows his/her/its origin, history, gender, ethnicity, class, religion, talents, abilities, or conception of the Good. This artifice, Rawls believes, forces participants to choose the basic rights and duties of citize...
Questions for a Picnic by Brian Volck (7/30/2014)
... from having our dependence on the grace and love of another made so obvious, so public? Why was the story of the feeding of the five thousand (“not counting women and children”) so important to the early church that it appears in all four gospels, with a reprise – for four thousand – in Mark and Matthew? What are we to learn from such unexpected abundance? Why are being taught and being fed c...
Wasteful Miracles by Brian Volck (7/10/2014)
...t, and it’s not easy to stop doing what you’re really good at. A modern variant of the “that’s nice, but it doesn’t apply to me” excuse stresses how different our lives are from those of first century peasants. Farmers, shepherds, and fishermen are, for many of us, abstractions invisibly at work somewhere beyond our personal experience, black boxes in the grocery store supply chain, while the ...
(Mis)Remembered Words by Brian Volck (7/4/2014)
...esus’ “pure principles.” When he was done with his editing, Jefferson wrote, “There will be found remaining the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man. I have performed this operation for my own use, by cutting verse by verse out of the printed book, and arranging the matter which is evidently his, and which is as easily distinguishable as diamonds in a du...
A Quieter Pentecost by Brian Volck (6/6/2014)
...rn from and discern with sponsors and other members of the church community they hope to become part of. My home parish takes this seriously. While the rite is meant to lead to reception into the church at the Easter Vigil, there’s no rushing, no shortcuts, no simply going with the flow. The rigor and probing reflection often make me wish I hadn’t completed my own initiation so young. <!--more-...
A Same Kind of Different by Brian Volck (5/1/2014)
...homas learns that even if doors can’t stop Jesus, the scars of his execution abide. Cleopas and his companion are clueless until they recognize Jesus “in the breaking of the bread.” For all of those – including me – who come after the original disciples and know no Jesus except as the resurrected Christ, there’s a particular sweetness in today’s gospel, as there was in last week’s Thomas story...
Bonds Unbroken by Brian Volck (2/19/2014)
... comes more from the inside and I feel most true is this: I am a sinner whom the Lord has looked upon.” Perhaps you, like me, take heart at these words, which sound like the fruit of hard experience, not the stale repetition of some pretty formula. Perhaps you, like me, know the wounds – many of them meticulously concealed – of broken relationships, the compounded result of a willful and persi...
A Very Messy Christmas by Brian Volck (12/18/2013)
...he knows what information a calculating ruler wants to hear, announces that a girl with soon give birth. Paul writes as a self-described slave to Christians in the imperial capital where he will eventually be executed. Yet, compelled by Christ, he greets his readers with words of grace and peace. Joseph learns that his fiancée is pregnant with someone else’s child, and looks for a way out. ...
Deep and Wide by Brian Volck (8/20/2013)
...eek for ecumenical commentary on the lectionaries, a rare Ordinary Time Sunday when none of the Revised Common Lectionary and Catholic Lectionary passages match. Books and even chapters nearly align, but as the carnival barker says after the darts are tossed, “Close, son, but no cigar.” But this is the hand we’re dealt this week. I’m suspicious of harmonizing texts. From Tatian’s <a href="...
A Different Sort of History by Brian Volck (7/2/2013)
...m>“Well, boy, if he’s an angel, he’s sure a murderin’ angel.” -The Killer Angels It’s a week of significant anniversaries in North America. July 1 is the 146th year since the passage of the British North America Act, creating the Dominion of Canada, July 1-3 is the 150th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg, the so-called turning point in the American Civil War, and July 4t...
Rejoice! Our Work Has Just Begun! by Brian Volck (3/27/2013)
...el Motes in Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood, most of us shout to the world through our attitudes and actions – if not necessarily with words – that, “I'm a member and preacher to that church where the blind don't see and the lame don't walk and what's dead stays that way.” Jesus, who some hoped to be Israel’s hope, lay dead, having been executed as a political criminal. Faith...
A Nose Hair in the Body of Christ by Brian Volck (1/21/2013)
...ing: working to stop the death penalty, saving starving children, reading the best books, having informed opinions.” Sandie paused a moment to ponder Jill’s concerns, and said, “All those things are important, but we’re all part of the body of Christ, and we have a role, however small. So what if you’re the nose hair? You’re there for a purpose. You may not have any idea what good you’re doing...
Living into the Mystery by Brian Volck (11/14/2012)
...l of life now wither and die. We see signs in the trees and know that winter is near. For those in the United States, it is also post-election season. Despite the predictable posturing of winners and losers alongside quadrennial promises of pragmatic cooperation and “reaching across the aisle,” it’s difficult to find real joy in the just concluded, nearly two-year electoral process that left ...
Hearing and Obeying by Brian Volck (9/5/2012)
... wasn’t available to every praying person. Furthermore, she never claimed to speak for God to others and, as far as I could tell, God’s speaking to her was more important than the words themselves, if indeed what she understood herself to hear were words. In truth, I’ve never understood quite what she meant. Her experience was not mine, though I’ve never doubted she had profound encounters with re...
The Encounter More Than the Cure by Brian Volck (6/26/2012)
...things, a cheer squad for Richard Dawkins) began an ad campaign on city buses in UK with signs declaring, “There probably is no God, so relax and enjoy your life.” This led, as the BHA no doubt intended, to a torrent of unhelpful comments from an array of sources – pro, con, and otherwise – claiming to have special insight on the matter. One observation, however, stuck with me: namely that signs a...
Show Us the Way by Brian Volck (5/10/2012)
... two companions were assassinated as they drove toward evening mass through the fields near El Paisnal, El Salvador. Fr. Grande knew where he was going. During his five years as parish priest in the nearby town of Aguilares, he formed Christian base communities, trained lay delegates, and vocally opposed government attempts to silence Salvadoran priests who worked with and organized pea...
Naked Intent by Brian Volck (3/14/2012)
...e news. (see John 4) Is it because I, scared of what people will think, prefer coming at night, tripping over words and their meanings? Maybe you know how that feels. Maybe you’re Nicodemus, too. To know is so satisfying, but it’s a lonely satisfaction, accomplishing far less than I pretend: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is ...
Dead in the Water by Brian Volck (2/23/2012)
...our deep habits. The traditional practices of Lent – prayer, fasting, and almsgiving – were never meant to make good people better, much less make them more appealing to God. Lenten practices are nothing less than little deaths, killing off the unnecessary within what we like to call “ourselves,” chiseling away chunks of rough marble hiding the delicate human figure inside. Not that we are the...
To ponder in our hearts by Brian Volck (12/28/2011)
...cs until the 1960s, when the day transformed into the Octave of the Nativity and the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Those using the Revised Common Lectionary celebrate the Holy Name of Jesus or the First Sunday after Christmas Day. Perhaps the kindest way to understand this confusion is that the mystery of the Incarnation is far too vast for human comprehension. After celebrating, as best w...
So Much Unfairness of Things by Brian Volck (9/20/2011)
...things differently. She might not have been white or middle class, which, she thanks God, she is. She’s even grateful that her daily, sometimes distasteful, encounters with poor blacks and “white trash” remind her that “…one had to have certain things before you could know certain things.” What she knows is this: she lives in a fair and ordered world, each person occupying the place he or she d...
(Mis)Remembered Words by Brian Volck (6/27/2011)
...ote, “There will be found remaining the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man. I have performed this operation for my own use, by cutting verse by verse out of the printed book, and arranging the matter which is evidently his, and which is as easily distinguishable as diamonds in a dunghill.” <a name="more"></a> He later completed The Life and Morals o...
A Quieter Pentecost by Brian Volck (6/6/2011)
...n’t completed my own initiation so young. From Easter to Ascension, newly-received members (called neophytes, which means “new living things”) wear their white robes each Sunday at liturgy. Like all of us, though far more visibly, they are engaged in mystagogy, forever entering the bottomless mystery of Christ and his people. On Ascension Day, after the readings have been broken open...
The Way Down by Brian Volck (4/12/2011)
...; Part 2, No.65 I’m not qualified to judge the theological soundness of that old saw, “God draws straight with crooked lines.” We know that Palm Sunday’s readings are a push into the arcing current of a great river. We know the river flows toward the unimaginable Paschal triumph. But the readings today have one and only one direction: down. Jesus enters Jerusalem triumphantly, in a pro...
Realist of Grace by Brian Volck (2/16/2011)
...a> “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” Jesus commands. That’s nowhere near as rosy and naïve as the bumper sticker I once came across, in a boutique full of inspirational art and Buddhist tchotckes, that read: “Love your enemies and you won’t have any.” There once was at time that I, too, believed I could change the world and others by wishing or willing it so. I was fo...
Herod Rules by Brian Volck (12/23/2010)
...to execute his own children when politics demanded. An Idumaean rather than ethnically Jewish, he was nonetheless named “King of the Jews” by the Roman Senate while in exile. After reclaiming his throne – with help from his Roman connections – Herod settled down to the business of governance. He built cities and fortresses, including the famous Masada, improved water supply to Jerusale...
The Crucified King by Brian Volck (11/18/2010)
...rst inaugural in New York City (following an election in which he received every electoral vote), some in the audience wondered if the former colonies had simply exchanged George III for George the First. President Washington, however, had no truck with domestic monarchists. Throughout his presidency, he maintained a careful balance of pomp and the common touch, willingly leaving office after his ...
Unchained Word by Brian Volck (10/7/2010)
... Samaria. One might as well spout nonsense about a “good Samaritan,” or a “good Al Qaeda.” This week, the border also divides clean from unclean. Unlike the encounter in Luke 5, this text doesn’t mention Jesus touching lepers, but the precedent’s set, he’s in unclean territory already, and now there are ten of them. When they beg for mercy, Jesus says, “Go and show yourselves to the priests....
And the Wind Began to Howl by Brian Volck (8/12/2010)
... no longer dutifully excusing the violence of power politics, the church can at long last resume the serious business of being the church. Playing church is, of course, far easier than being it. But, barring a powerfully rejuvenated alliance of accommodated Christianity and American nationalism, reasons to pretend should grow increasingly rare. The benefits of claiming default Christian identit...
All Things Shining by Brian Volck (6/2/2010)
...emus.org/?ql=142440446">Luke 7:11-17 </a> / Catholic Lectionary, Feast of Corpus Christi: <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=142440332">Genesis 14:18-20</a>, <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=142440360">Luke 9:11-17 </a> Ordinary time. Words not crafted to stir the soul. “Ordinary” here, of course, refers to the numbering of Sundays outside of festal and penitential seasons, but that’s far...
Soldiers of Conscience by Brian Volck (5/25/2010)
...e some contemporary voices to consider</a>, voices much closer to the reality of killing than most of us. For those who wish to learn more about the documentary, visit the <a href="http://www.socfilm.com/">website</a>....
Apocalypse of Love by Brian Volck (4/29/2010)
...its on the throne, “I make all things new.” God dwells with humanity. Tears, pain and mourning are no more. It sounds wonderful. Sign me up. “I give you a new commandment,” says Jesus to the Eleven: “love one another...as I have loved you.” What lovely and inspiring words. Take time, though, to read the fine print: “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another...
Unrealistic Stories and Beginning…Again by Brian Volck (2/10/2010)
...day in Ordinary Time (Catholic Lectionary): <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=132771568">Luke 6:17, 20-26</a> On this Sunday before Lent, when Christian traditions have every reason to be on the same page (the Orthodox, too, begin the Great Lent this coming week) it seems the lectionaries are going in different directions. The Revised Common Lectionary reads Luke’s account of the Transfigura...
Who Bears the Weight of Empire? by Brian Volck (12/4/2009)
...lizabeth and Zecahriah’s John-boy, not the movers and shakers of first century Judea. Augustus may have proclaimed a census in the chapter immediately preceding this, but it’s John, not Tiberius, making proclamations now: “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” The words Luke quotes from Isaiah (40:3-5) speak of reckonings and reversals, themes car...
The Unknowable Shape of Things to Come by Brian Volck (10/15/2009)
...g fidelity require, would anyone marry? If humans truly knew what children demand of parents, would the species continue? If any of us truly knew how often grief is the final evidence of earthly love, would anyone choose to love? Zebedee’s boys have no idea what they’re asking. Not that they weren’t warned. The verses immediately preceding today’s gospel are another prediction of Jesus suffe...
Visceral Responses by Brian Volck (10/1/2009)
...holic); <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=121412445">Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12</a> (Revised Common); <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=121412466">Mark 10:2-16</a> Texts like these that make me grateful I’m a pediatrician and not a preacher. Given the diversity of understandings and practices among Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox regarding marriage and remarriage after divorce, and the con...
Loving Enemies: A Training Program by Brian Volck (9/24/2009)
...ref="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=120821534">24-29</a>; <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=120821575">Psalm 19</a>; <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=120821602">James 5:1-6</a> (Catholic); <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=120821634">5:13-20</a> (Revised Common); <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=120821657">Mark 9:38-50</a> “Even heretics love God, and burn convinced that He will lov...
An Offer You Can’t Refuse by Brian Volck (8/6/2009)
...phesians 4:25-5:2</a>; <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=116527626">John 6:41-51</a> Declining an offer of hospitality is, in traditional cultures at least, an insult. Elijah, on the lam from Ahab and Jezebel, prefers to die under the shade of his broom tree, but he knows not to insult God’s messenger. In John’s gospel, however, “the Jews” (a troubling Johannine formulation – what was Jesus...
Crash Course by Brian Volck (7/16/2009)
...ogress (with a capital “P”). He concedes the Shoah was a “temporary setback” for humanity, but nothing to fret about in the long run. In his view of history, religious faith is in full rout (though still, to his mind, terribly dangerous), material welfare is on the rise, and goodness and peace are coming in every way. Supremely confident in the power of Science (with a capital “S”), Dawkins assure...
Interdependence Day by Brian Volck (7/2/2009)
...dependence characterizing the Body into which we are called. <a href="http://blog.sojo.net/2009/06/23/40-ways-to-celebrate-interdependence-day-on-july-4/">Shaine Claiborne found the idea compelling enough to comment on</a>. Comments on both the above links lay out familiar positions to those who’ve participated in such conversations before....
Neither the Best Nor the Brightest by Brian Volck (7/1/2009)
...Hauerwas’ Law and its necessary Corollary apply to most committed relationships. The Law, in its most elegant formation, is: You always marry the wrong person. The Corollary: The wrong person is the right person. In mysteries and sacraments (and my particular tradition considers marriage to be both), informed consent isn’t part of the package. Talk about a Kierkegaardian leap! Prenuptial leg...
Not By Sight by Brian Volck (6/19/2009)
...sociations Mark’s rough Greek may not sustain. Is this merely a simple boat crossing or a prelude to the passion, a window on death’s terror? A storm comes over the water – suddenly, as desert weather will. The Son of God is asleep, undisturbed by the drama of crashing waves and a boat not far from being scuttled. His followers shake him awake, anxious to know if he cares. We do...
A Nation of Prisons & Forgotten Corporal Acts of Mercy by Brian Volck (6/13/2009)
...nter/publications/sightings/archive_2009/0608.shtml">he has something to say</a> about the work of EP endorser Tobias Winright, whose review of two books on the American way of imprisonment <a href="http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=6938%5D">appeared in a May issue of The Christian Century</a>....
Shall We Gather? by Brian Volck (5/23/2009)
...r Gathering, “Wealth and the Household of God,”</a> the practice of hospitality demands we mention upcoming gatherings of these friends of EP: Bridgefolk, August 21-24 <a href="http://www.bridgefolk.net/conferences/2009bridgefolk/">“Between Memory and Hope: Bridgefolk at Ten Years”</a> Jesus Radicals, August 14-15 <a href="http://www.jesusradicals.com/new-heaven-new-earth-anarchism-and-ch...
Show Us the Way by Brian Volck (5/13/2009)
... El Paisnal, El Salvador. Fr. Grande knew where he was going. During his five years as parish priest in nearby Aguilares, he formed Christian base communities, trained lay “delegates,” and vocally opposed government attempts to silence Salvadoran priests who worked with and organized peasant laborers. It was not a safe time. As Fr. Grande said, "It is practic...
Pruning Time by Brian Volck (5/7/2009)
... keep a large vegetable garden and busy themselves with other crops, but wine is the farm’s major product. Recently, my wife and I drove down to visit. The two of us talked with Mary and her mother in a shady spot near the old dairy shed, but Chuck was busy pruning vines. Sweaty and dirty, he called to us from a distance, but there wasn’t time to stop and chat. Mary told how she used to help...
World Out of Balance by Brian Volck (4/7/2009)
... O’Connor, "A Good Man is Hard to Find") I don’t understand Easter. I think I stand on firm theological ground saying this. Mysteries are necessarily beyond comprehension, a scandal and embarrassment in a scientific age. It’s far more satisfying to make of mystery a problem to be solved. In “mystery” novels, for instance, a criminal death is explained, ending (generally) with the restoration of...
Closer to the Brink by Brian Volck (3/2/2009)
...week – with the Revised Common and Catholic lectionaries diverging – peril and destruction are nearer than ever. In Mark 8:31-38, Jesus calls Peter “Satan,” for advising against the path of suffering, death and resurrection. It doesn’t help that the phrase, “pick up your cross,” has lost its terrifying charge over the centuries. We might have to try a contemporary paraphra...
By Whose Authority? by Brian Volck (1/28/2009)
...t-style: italic;">Authoritative first recorded 1609. Authoritarian is recorded from 1879. Power: First written appearance in English: 1297, from L. potis "powerful" Used to mean "a state or nation with regard to international authority or influence" dates from 1726.<s...
Bit Parts by Brian Volck (12/25/2008)
...The birds themselves were of little consequence, yet necessary, the material fulfillment of the Torah. As Luke’s Jesus later puts it, “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? and not one of them is forgotten in the sight of God.” (Luke 12:6) As the new parents go about their business, Simeon (usually pictured as quite old, an extrapolation from his exclamation “Lord, now let thy servant ...
Pledging Allegiance by Brian Volck (11/19/2008)
...the struggles of the world " width="181" height="200" /></a> Ezekiel 34, Psalm 100 (Catholic: Psalm 23), Ephesians 1:15-23 (Catholic: 1 Cor 15: 20-28), Matthew 25:31-46 1925. In the wake of an unimaginably destructive World War, surrounded by rising totalitarian powers, and as the “civilized” military nation-states partied their way toward financ...
Choosing the Evil of Two Lessers by Brian Volck (9/5/2008)
...Christmas. I’m nearly with him on that, seeing how far the consumer capitalist Winter Holiday runs from the appalling mystery of the Incarnation. Yet it’s hard to blame this culture and economy from avoiding that unprofitable Jesus business which, in the words of the late great British sitcom, Blackadder, “always spoils the Xmas atmos.” We may still call it Christ-mas, but Yuletide in America ma...
The Most Segregated Hour in America by Brian Volck (8/6/2008)
...x.html">a recent CNN story</a> on the difficulties inherent in integrating churches resonates with much said at the recent EP gathering....
Imagining the Road We Share by Brian Volck (8/1/2008)
...V) “I’ve been to conferences on race and racism before, but this is different,” I was told several times at this summer’s Ekklesia Project gathering in Chicago. I agree. There was far less nonsense and posturing than I’ve endured at previous, allegedly “frank” discussions of race. We spoke, sang and worshiped together, without the “It’s a Small World After All,” ceremonies that suggest a few ...
Behold, How Good and Pleasant by Brian Volck (8/1/2008)
...ng ecumenism in which Christians speak from the heart as the Holy Spirit guides them, refusing to merely paper over substantive differences, then there’s something you must hear. Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, liturgical pit bull of Catholic traditionalists in America, has a podcast recording of Pope Benedict XVI and Patriarch Bartholomew I <a href="http://wdtprs.com/blog/2008/06/benedict-xvi-a...
Gospel Nonviolence, Untranslated by Brian Volck (8/1/2008)
...ily’s James Dobson and the Obama campaign</a> except to note that Mr. Obama, who could easily have been much harder on Mr. Dobson, has said what any respectable candidate for the office of Commander in Chief must, namely: “Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal rather than religion-specific values.” (“Universal” in this case presumably means “Early...
Habeas Corpus by Brian Volck (8/1/2008)
...p://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04390b.htm">the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ</a>. From Thursday until Sunday, more traditional Catholic churches will hold processions, and countless homilies will be devoted to what it means live, move and have our being in Christ’s Body. <a href="http://www.theolog.org/blog/2008/05/the-sacrament-1.html">A recent post on Theolog, the Christian Century blog</a...
Jesus, Gates, and Sheep by Brian Volck (8/1/2008)
...ar’s Triduum, the three solemn days leading into Easter, those in my parish chosen to proclaim scripture were expected to attend at least one group practice session. In that sense, at least, my parish takes “performing the Word” seriously. We received our texts well in advance in order to prepare, and our practice consisted of reading aloud while a woman from the parish, well known for her attenti...
The Risen Lazarus is No Stranger by Brian Volck (8/1/2008)
...erse nearly everyone remembers, “Jesus wept,” as well as the clearest possible statement of the functional principle underlying every City of Man, “It is better for one man to die than for the people to perish.” Lazarus’ tomb is also fertile soil for midrash, the imaginative stories in which the student rubs again those irritant nodes of scripture, such as the sacrifice of Isaac, Lot’s wife, Jacob...
Unexpected News by Brian Volck (8/1/2008)
...uths familiar with the bitter taste of injustice. I would have heard the same text well-read in my own parish of overeducated, socially progressive white folk (and, to be fair, a small number of African, Asian and Latino folks, for the most part well-educated and similarly active in matters of peace and justice). Nonetheless, Matthew’s account of Christ...
Lent is Scary; It Hurts Like Hell by Brian Volck (8/1/2008)
...dd to the vast libraries of commentary devoted to that gospel episode. It’s 2 Timothy that I have on my mind this Lenten week (Those of you hearing Romans 4 also have something meaty to dwell on. It’s rather more closely related to the Genesis passage, but that’s another matter…) Here’s the text from Timothy: Join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on...
When Eight Days Were Fulfilled by Brian Volck (8/1/2008)
...ractice.” In addition to serving as a day to sleep in late, and watch parades and college football televised from warmer climates, January 1 has variously been identified by Christians as the Feast of the Circumcision; the Holy Name of Jesus; Mary, Mother of God (Theotokos in the East) and the World Day of Peace…and I’m sure I’ve left out a few. So th...