By Jana Bennett

• Our Pious Disbelief in “God-With-Us” by Jana Bennett (12/13/2016)
  Fourth Sunday in Advent Isaiah 7:10-17 Romans 1:1-7 Matthew 1:18-25 King Ahaz – the king in today’s prophecy from Isaiah – is a man standing in great fear. To understand why, we have to go back a few verses to get the context of this passage. Two of Ahaz’s nearest enemies have united against him: the Northern Kingdom of Israel (a Jewish nation that had, in previous days, been part of a united kingdom with Judah), and Aram, a non-Jewish nation. Ahaz fears the bloodshed and destruction that war inevitably brings. We, today, can understand Ahaz’s fear. Surely we have all been in some kind of position like that...
• Ordinary Things, Extraordinary Vision by Jana Bennett (11/23/2016)
  First Sunday in Advent Isaiah 2:1-5 Romans 13:11-14 Matthew 24:36-44 A lot of the scholarly scripture commentary on today’s reading from Isaiah focuses on a question Christians have been debating for a long while: is the life to which God calls us realistic? Or is it an idealistic picture that is meant to give us small comfort, but clearly not meant for us in any real kind of way today? After all, the image Isaiah gives us for imagining our future with God is anything but the reality of the world we know today. In Isaiah’s vision, nations come together, united in climbing the mountains of God. The...
• Belief, Bodies, and Freedom by Jana Bennett (3/30/2016)
  Second Sunday of Easter Acts 5:12-32 Psalm 118 Revelation 1:4-19 John 20:19-31 The temptation, even post-Resurrection, not to believe in the risen body of Jesus Christ our Lord – well, it’s real. How many Christians – theologians, bishops, and pastors among them – have wrestled with the claims we make about Jesus over the centuries? Some have said, “Jesus is resurrected in our memory.” Others have suggested that there’s no need – not really – to believe in the risen Lord. What matters is that we follow his message, more or less to love each other. I think o...
• The Unwelcome Word by Jana Bennett (1/28/2016)
  Fourth Sunday after Epiphany Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Jeremiah 1:4-10 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Luke 4:21-30 This Sunday’s Gospel gives us the conclusion to the gripping story we heard last week about the Jubilee Year. Last week, Jesus read from Isaiah about bringing good news to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind, and proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor – the year of Jubilee. More than that, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” It has been fulfilled NOW. And NOW. And NOW. We discover that the year of Jubilee, the year of the Lord’s favor, isn’t only the Jubilee as we have...
• Wasting Time in the Banquet Hall by Jana Bennett (8/12/2015)
  Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14 OR Proverbs 9:1-6 Ephesians 5:15-20 John 6:51-58 My children have a beloved book called Clown of God by Tomie de Paolo. I will not give much detail here so that if you haven't yet read this book, you can enjoy the book's surprises. Yet I don't think I give away too much of the story to say that in this beautifully illustrated book set in medieval Italy, readers discover that yes, someone as silly-looking as a clown - even someone who "only" juggles for a livin...