Posts from 2008

Eating Locally by Debra Dean Murphy (5/1/2008)
...ng such a promiscuous eater, but Kingsolver is too good a writer for that. She simply chronicles her family’s triumphs and failures; their joys and frustrations. As she puts it, this is the story of what they learned, or didn’t; what they ate, or couldn’t; and how the family was changed by one year of deliberately eating food produced in the same place where they worked, loved their neighbors, dra...
On Ontology and Organizations Voluntary by Tobias Winright (5/1/2008)
... of life that can be hermetically sealed off from first principles of justice (abortion, euthanasia, and embryo-destructive stem-cell research), we're dealing with a confused camper. One might even say, it's a camper with a severe identity crisis." Such politicians fail, according to Weigel, to take seriously how certain sacraments change their recipients ontologically, "conferring o...
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...
Telephones and What is Good for Us by Randy Cooper (8/1/2008)
...e up about whether David Kline’s community would use telephones. Everyone in the church—the community—met and discussed it a number of times. It took all summer for them to decide whether they would have phones. They finally decided against it. And they had two reasons. First, they knew that if they began to use telephones, they would carry out conversations less and less in a face t...
Looking Toward Lent by Debra Dean Murphy (8/1/2008)
...ha It is not uncommon in a lot of churches, perhaps rural ones especially, for a particular family to be a dominant force in the life of the congregation. The family may be founding members of the church, pillars in the community. They may have donated a prominent stained glass window or paid for the pulpit or altar—maybe even bankrolled the fellowship hall. While there is us...
Fools For Christ by Randy Cooper (8/1/2008)
...sons whose walk in life is different from theirs. By placing themselves in such a community, they are availing themselves of God’s Holy Spirit to love the neighbors given to them by God. Only God knows what may happen with “crazy” Christians like Van and Kristin. And I’m thinking this morning about Duke University. The largest number of Duke graduates in 2007 d...
Better Than Borders and Barriers by Brent Laytham (8/1/2008)
...l is the most segregated hour in America. One of the most challenging questions was posed by Bryan Massingale, who asked us when in the last three years we had heard a sermon that condemned racial division or that affirmed God’s vision of a multi-racial church. When? Well, I hope you did during Epiphany. Epiphany is an annual invitation to read and hear the gospel that God shows up t...
Mardi Gras by Debra Dean Murphy (8/1/2008)
...ities, New Orleans (at least until Katrina and its aftermath changed the city and our perception of it forever), “Fat Tuesday” seems the antithesis of anything holy or sacred. But its origins, of course, are in the Church’s season of Lent. Ash Wednesday is preceded by Fat Tuesday ("Mardi Gras" in French) which, historically, was a time to eat up all th...
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...
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...
Come and See by Debra Dean Murphy (8/1/2008)
...r, it seems, is that she had five husbands. But what are the particular circumstances? Deaths? Divorces? Promiscuity? We do not know. All we know is that Jesus, as is his custom in his encounters in John’s gospel, reveals intimate knowledge of this woman. He does not urge her to repent or change her behavior; he renders no judgment, offers no rebuke. Bu...
Coming To Our Senses by Erin Martin (8/1/2008)
...John on the Sundays in Lent are our traveling companions. Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, the man born blind, Mary, Martha, even Lazarus, all have a place on our journey with Jesus to Jerusalem. From Sunday to Sunday while each of these persons experiences Jesus in individual ways, collectively they reveal to us the fullness of who we are as well as our total emptiness before Jesus.<spa...
What Do You See? by Jessie Larkins (8/1/2008)
... to him, ‘Surely we are not blind, are we?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.” -- John 9:40-41 When I was in seminary, one of the questions that we were instructed to ask ourselves in any ministerial context was: “Where and who are the invisible people?” This question was intended to help us to find those people in ...
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...
Nice Guys and Crucifixion by Joel Shuman (8/1/2008)
...fully ignorant of where our Lenten journey has been taking us, or with whom we are traveling, the traditional Gospel text for Palm Sunday—and indeed, all of Matthew’s Gospel from Chapter 21 on—serves as a rather abrupt aide memoire. For some time I couldn’t really get my mind around the significance of Jesus’ “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem. Why a colt; why the palms; why the coats in the road; w...
The Face of Race by Debra Dean Murphy (8/1/2008)
...>At the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion’s den, Ezekiel’s field of dry bones. Those stories – of survival, and freedom, and hope – became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; ...
The Violence of Love by Debra Dean Murphy (8/1/2008)
...Romero, murdered while celebrating the Eucharist at the chapel of Divine Providence Cancer Hospital in San Salvador on March 24, 1980. We should not wonder that a church has a lot of cross to bear. Otherwise, it will not have a lot of resurrection. An accommodating church, a church that seeks prestige without the pain of the cross, is not the authentic church of Jesus Christ. (February 19, 1978...
Do You Believe in the Resurrection? by Debra Dean Murphy (8/1/2008)
... on that first Easter morning and in the days and weeks that followed. But doubt and struggle were not obstacles to faith; they were its necessary precondition. Throughout history and into our own time there have been persons on a mission to “prove” the resurrection as historical fact, and there have been others intent on disproving it. Last spring, CNN aired a special program called “What Is A...
The Road to Exile by Debra Dean Murphy (8/1/2008)
...m 1 Peter will take center stage in many sermons this Sunday, but in thinking through all of the day’s appointed readings—their particular concerns and their possible associations, it’s not a bad place to begin. For one thing, we read portions of 1 Peter for several consecutive Sundays during Easter of Year A in the common lectionary, passages which constitute something of an Easter catechesis for...
Obama and His Preacher by Randy Cooper (8/1/2008)
... of the gospel is far more mature than theirs. Indeed, these “experts” cannot fathom the integrity that Obama has shown. Thus far at least, Obama’s actions and words witness to an understanding of the church that is orthodox and biblical. In the tradition of Christian faith, Obama seems to understand that we do not “choose” our church, nor does the church exist to please us and to meet our need...
Suffering and Abundance by Debra Dean Murphy (8/1/2008)
...he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice” (John 10:4). Any time sheep are mentioned in the Bible people sometimes go a little soft in the head, inflicting a nursery-rhyme cuteness on stories and images that often have a political, subversive edge. This Sunday’s passage from John’s gospel should give us pause if we are tempted toward such silliness. The text is...
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...
Prayer Pet Peeves by Debra Dean Murphy (8/1/2008)
..., in low-church Methodism in the South, I’m called upon regularly, in a variety of contexts, to offer extemporaneous prayers. I also frequently hear others—both clergy and laity— pray “on the fly.” Extemporaneous prayers can be as varied in substance and style as those who offer them, but I have to say that the longer I am in this setting where extemporaneous prayers are valued as “authentic” a...
How Can We Know the Way? by Erin Martin (8/1/2008)
... our routine. No sooner have I strapped my two year-old son, Elijah, into his car seat and started driving us on our way than my son pipes up from the back seat, “Hey mom, where are we going?” I always answer him very clearly. “We are going to the grocery store,” I say, or “We are going to the library.” To which Elijah always responds, “Hey mom, where are we going?” This kind of back and forth, re...
Benedict and Jeremiah by Debra Dean Murphy (8/1/2008)
... his stateside visit earlier this month, spoke the truth about American Catholicism with equal parts commendation and critique. His humility and shy grace were evident in his speeches and sermons and in his carriage and demeanor (all of which was a little disconcerting to those who remember when his public persona—fair or not—was that of the rigid, humorless Cardinal Ratzinger). Jeremiah Wright...
Should I Stay or Should I Go? by Jessie Larkins (8/1/2008)
... immediately jump to the conclusion of Luke’s report in Acts 1 when the angels appear to ask the disciples: “Why do you stand looking up at heaven?” I hear in this question an affirmation of my own need for action—the angels are telling those disciples to get on with it already. There is work to be done witnessing, proclaiming, releasing the captives, caring for the sick, and forgiving enemies, am...
Beautiful Day by Debra Dean Murphy (8/1/2008)
...hing green and lush. The azaleas are past their prime but the camellias are in top form. It’s a beautiful day. It’s also the day that voters go to the polls to decide local, state, and national primary contests. Holding our primary as we do in the month of May, we’re not used to mattering much on the national scene. Party nominees are usually firmed up long before now. But you know that your st...
The Full Gospel Anthem by Jim McCoy (8/1/2008)
...h a resort ministry group. We had just finished an unforgettable feast of trout and country ham at the Jarrett House. Now the little church across the street was pleasantly filled to hear us. The evening could not have been more perfect. We sang about the goodness of God and the beauty of God’s creation, about understanding ourselves to be persons o...
Trinity Sunday by Debra Dean Murphy (8/1/2008)
...y analogies: The Trinity is like a three-leaf clover. The Trinity is like the three phases of water—liquid, solid, steam. No wonder people in the pews often rebel against doctrinal sermons. But the problem, of course, is not with doctrine. The problem is that many Christians consider doctrine (whether we’re talking about the Trinity or salvation or the nature of the Church) as som...
Walking with God Slowly by Kyle Childress (8/1/2008)
... things, paying attention to details is a recurring wonder to me the more walking I do. My preferred walk is the Tucker House trails behind the SFA Native Plant Center. There’s no traffic, not many people, beautiful woods and plant life, and I spot plenty of animals, birds, and reptiles (copperheads!) when I pay attention to what’s around me. Once I leave those quiet trails I’ve noticed a lot of o...
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...
Strangers and Other Gifts by Debra Dean Murphy (8/1/2008)
...as a degree program in most colleges and universities. For many people, hospitality is exercised primarily as a form of social entertaining: magazines like Southern Living set impossible standards for home décor, flower arranging, menu planning, and so on. The people we invited into our well-scrubbed homes to sit at our perfectly-set tables and eat our carefully-prepared dinners (meant to impre...
Third Sunday After Pentecost by Debra Dean Murphy (8/1/2008)
...s shaking; the sea roaring and foaming; swollen waters on the earth; rain, flood, wind, destruction, death? Those of us who have never experienced the kind of catastrophic devastation associated with cyclones and earthquakes can too easily romanticize the natural world, admiring only its beauty: a breathtaking sunset, a beautiful beach, a majestic mountain. As modern suburbanites and urbanites ...
The Making of Many Books by Debra Dean Murphy (8/1/2008)
...reotype: women who gather to discuss the latest Oprah pick and drink lots of wine. We do drink wine and share a meal together every time we meet, but no Oprah books for us. And there are men in our group, too. And our members range in age from their early 30s to their late 60s. (One woman in an assisted-living community is a “virtual” member, keeping up with the club through our email discussions;...
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...
The Binding of Isaac: Gen. 22: 1-14 by Debra Dean Murphy (8/1/2008)
...y Father, / Behold the preparations, fire and iron, / But where the lamb, for this burnt-offering? / Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps, / And builded parapets and trenches there, / And stretchèd forth the knife to slay his son. / When lo! an Angel called him out of heaven, / Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, / Neither do anything to him, thy son. / Behol...
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...
Fasting Against a Divided Body by Brent Laytham (8/1/2008)
...painful that many of us who endorse The Ekklesia Project cannot come together as one body at the Eucharistic table of our Lord. Several years ago, we spent an entire Gathering exploring that pain. This year our Gathering explored another division that scars the body of Christ—race. Both visibly and invisibly, race and racism have divided us from sharing together at our Lord’s one tab...
Gathering Gifts by Debra Dean Murphy (8/1/2008)
... worship, learning, and fellowship. I traveled to Chicago this year with three good friends from my church—new endorsers of EP and first-time Gathering attendees. These friends—Judy, Chris, and Greg—were overwhelmed by all they encountered (in the best possible sense of that word) and we continue to talk about what we experienced, hoping that our own transformed thinking about matters of race ...
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 ...
Shrubs and Kingdoms by Debra Dean Murphy (8/1/2008)
..."font-style: italic;">“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” -- Matthew 13:31-33 It has often been pointed out that when Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a shrub,...
The Metaphysics of Discipleship by Halden Doerge (8/1/2008)
...ed church's history the notion became prominent that the ethics of Jesus, particularly as recorded in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) and other prominent texts in the gospels (cf. Luke 6:17-46; 14:15-34), simply cannot be done by people who live in the real world. They are rather "counsels of perfection" which are either only for a specific clerical or monastic caste (as in Medieval Catholici...
Tasting Death, Tasting Life by Debra Dean Murphy (8/1/2008)
...ousand is a description of a very different sort of meal: John the Baptizer’s head on a platter. And just as women and children are included among the crowds fed on the beach with bread and fish (a detail unique to Matthew’s version of the story), the female sex is also represented in the account of John’s demise. Herodias, sister-in-law of Herod, asks for the head of the Baptist; her nameless da...
Getting Small by Kyle Childress (8/5/2008)
...veryone to come to his house and “get small.” Martin said that “getting small” was dangerous for children because they would get “really, really small” and it was also impossible for the police to put you in jail for being small because you’d walk out right between the bars. It was a short, quirky piece of the sort that made Martin famous. If it was countercultu...
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....
Rocking the Boat by Debra Dean Murphy (8/8/2008)
...stile to religion generally and Christianity particularly, and a pious defender of the faith. In my view, neither has been very impressive in articulating his case against the other, and the back-and-forth accusations and “gotcha’s” and outright vitriol have only escalated as the debate has gone on (and on and on). I tried briefly to weigh in on it earlier this week, calling for a little charity ...
Ethics After Pentecost by Tobias Winright (8/13/2008)
...he Scriptures for Sunday, August 17th (Roman Catholic lectionary) are full of extraordinary, even quite surprising, tidings. Another name for this season is Kingdomtide, and I would like to suggest that these Scripture passages are about the kin-dom that God desires to happen on earth as it is in heaven. That is, the common thread running throughout these readings is that God's salvation essential...
Immigration and the Crumbs from Our Table by Debra Dean Murphy (8/18/2008)
...ist I have, made up mostly of fellow church members but also including some far-flung friends and colleagues. Often, I share my bLOGOS reflections on the lectionary or make a plea for help with a project or program; sometimes I simply direct folks to an interesting website or blog. The point is not to court controversy for its own sake, but sometimes the topics and the ensuing conversation take us...
Immigration and the Hebrew Midwives by Debra Dean Murphy (8/23/2008)
... absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other." - Thomas Paine, 1776 “But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them.”- Exodus 1:17 In a class I used to teach called “Women and the Bible” my students and I would examine the Exodus story of the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and P...
Useless by Joel Shuman (8/28/2008)
...w classes with the pronouncement that “God is useless.” As you might expect, this assertion is usually not well received by the pious young women and men on the other side of the lectern, who find it shocking, offensive, and even blasphemous. My friend anticipates these reactions, of course, and I suspect he enjoys his students’ outrage (All of us professors have a bit of the ham-provocateur in us...
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...
Love and Power by Debra Dean Murphy (9/5/2008)
...n’t seem to help myself. Two weeks of convention hoopla—spin and jive, sentiment and spectacle, smugness and sarcasm—have left me more hopeless than ever about the state of political discourse in the United States of America. Where’s the maturity and civility and humility? Where’s the courage to cast our political, economic, and moral challenges in the nuanced ways they require? Why are we afra...
70 x 7 and 9/11 by Debra Dean Murphy (9/12/2008)
...nt-style: italic;">Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. (Matthew 18:21-22) At a time like this—the week we recall the attacks of September 11, 2001—it is instructive to set the script of American civil piety ne...
Forgiveness and Evangelism by Jessie Larkins (9/17/2008)
...in a car that was in a minor accident in a local shopping center parking lot. Both cars, the one I was in as well as the one that sideswiped us, were traveling at an appropriate parking lot speed of about 2 mph. The collision, which put a fairly large dent in the front fender of my friend’s car and a crack in the front headlight on the other car, resulted in no injuries, no irreparable damage, and...
Workers’ Rights and the Kingdom of Heaven by Debra Dean Murphy (9/18/2008)
... the first will be last.” Matthew 20:15-16 Some say that human beings are hardwired with a strong sense of what’s fair and what’s not. Maybe. But even if it’s not part of our DNA, it seems pretty clear that the resentment we feel when treated unjustly is learned early and runs deep. Ever been in a room full of toddlers when there aren’t enough toys to go around? We don’t seem to lose th...
God’s Economy by Debra Dean Murphy (9/24/2008)
...y our days and overtake all our social interactions. In fact, if you want to break the ice with a new acquaintance or fill that awkward silence with a stranger in a waiting room, on the bus, wherever—just bring up the near-collapse of the world’s financial markets. You’ll get a knowing gaze, a sympathetic nod. It is telling that the current crisis on Wall Street has captivated our attention lik...
Why Share? by Kyle Childress (9/27/2008)
...ery has just gotten in a case of fresh cod. “Frozen, but it’s fresher than what’s been in his freezer for months. In the grocery business, you have to throw out stuff sometimes, but Ralph is Norwegian and it goes against his principles.” On the other hand, more and more people have been “sneaking off to the Higgledy-Piggledy in St. Cloud, where you find two acres of food, a meat counter a block l...
Law, Economy, Freedom and Community by Debra Dean Murphy (9/30/2008)
...ht="200" /></a>Exodus 20:1-20 There's a running gag on Comedy Central's Colbert Report in which the fake-bluster, windbag host, Stephen Colbert, interviews members of Congress in a segment called "Better Know a District." In <a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/180282/september-05-2008/better-know-a-district---lynn-westmoreland-update">a recent installment</a...
Raging and Rejoicing by Debra Dean Murphy (10/9/2008)
...liquely, our own. In the Exodus passage, Moses has to talk down an irrational Yehweh, lest divine rage obliterate the wayward Israelites. In Matthew's parable of the wedding banquet, an equally unreasonable host-king (God) responds in wildly disproportionate ways to what amounts to a social snubbing and an ill-dressed party guest. Sandwiched between these troubling texts is Psalm 106, which fun...
No Small Change by Debra Dean Murphy (10/14/2008)
...llars in retirement accounts like 401(k)s. It's no small matter that many people close to retirement may be in quite a fix. And it seems reasonable to ask, if such a vast sum is indeed lost, can't someone figure out how and where we might find it? Where the heck did all that money go? But of course it wasn't real money that went missing—it was an abstract numerical projection derived...
What God Intends by Randy Cooper (10/21/2008)
...th” phones fitted to our ears when we were born. And I find myself thinking this way when it comes to oil and coal. I figure that if God intended us to put carbon into the air, then God surely would not have taken so long and worked so hard to fold these materials deep into the earth. I wonder if God really wants them to be taken from the bowels of the earth and used as we use them. There I go,...
Leadership by Imitation by Jessie Larkins (10/22/2008)
...amed on minorities or the poor, is blamed on a failure of leadership in government and industry. For too long the standard of worth for CEOs and economic strategists has been a cut-throat measure of greed and self-interest. In the religious world, too, the decline in attendance and influence of mainline congregations and denominations has been attributed to a lack of effective pastoral leadership....
Blessed Are They by Erin Martin (10/29/2008)
...imply called to follow their example, to cultivate within us the attitudes these saints so courageously exhibit, and we too shall be called blessed. This year, however, I am hearing Jesus differently. When Jesus teaches the disciples on the mountain who receives the favor of God and by implication who does not, Jesus isn’t so much urging the disciples to “go and do likewise.” Inste...
Wisdom and Folly by Debra Dean Murphy (11/4/2008)
...</a>1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Matthew 25:1-13 (32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time) At first glance the gospel lesson this week seems to encourage the kind of smug dualism that has characterized this long electoral season. (Can it really be coming to an end this week?): Some people are wise and some are foolish and thank God I’m among the wise ones. Such readings (of political campaigns, of...
Cynical/Dreams by Debra Dean Murphy (11/6/2008)
... Nov. 4. Even though it wasn’t a surprise, the election of Barack Obama is epic for all the reasons the pundits have waxed eloquent about during the last twenty-four hours, and the margin of his victory is ample evidence that Senator McCain didn’t lose the election: Senator Obama won it, and decisively. It is moving to see the <a href="http://blow.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/peop...
Giving Jesus a Makeover by Randy Cooper (11/12/2008)
...>Many years ago a dear Christian sister told me she was convinced that if Jesus appeared in our day, he would surely be a fire and brimstone Baptist preacher. As you might imagine, she admired Baptist preachers who preached hell and judgment. She made Jesus over into an image that suited her own faith and worldview. She isn’t the first. Human beings were made in the image of God. Yet ever since...
Give it All by Joel Shuman (11/12/2008)
...y to how much of modern life is controlled, or at least infected, by fear. One reason for my attentiveness is because I am something of an expert where fear is concerned. It’s no secret to my friends and family that I am by nature given to sometimes obsessive worry, and over the years I have learned mostly to accept that it’s just something I have to live with. Mostly, I do pretty well in that...
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...
Come, Lord Jesus by Jessie Larkins (11/27/2008)
...ason when the Church’s prayer is the urgent and expectant: “Come, Lord Jesus.” For most folks, the Advent hymns and prayers invoking Emmanuel, God-with-us, conjure up domesticated images of babies, a glowing virgin mother, and churches gathered to sing carols and raise candles high into the air. These are comfortable images for us. We like to be in control of our lives and our futures—and this Chr...
The End is our Beginning by Erin Martin (12/3/2008)
...ritten on it" width="200" height="133" /></a>Isaiah 40:1-11, Mark 1:1-8 Everyone knows that Advent is about beginnings. The season marks the start of a new Christian year. It heralds the beginning of the “good news” of Jesus Christ, and it points to the origin of the Incarnation, the birth of Jesus. Every year in Advent we begin the preparations for Jesus’ coming only to do it all agai...
Camel Hair and the Christ Child by Debra Dean Murphy (12/8/2008)
...rring: sweet-faced children singing about cradles and crèches on the same Sunday that we hear about leather belts, locusts and wild honey. It’s early December and we’re already at the manger (the tidy Christmas card version)—in our heads and in our worship. We come to church decked out in our holiday finest and John the Baptizer greets us, sporting animal-skin outerwear and going on and on about b...
Revolution Now! by Joel Shuman (12/16/2008)
...>Fourth Sunday of Advent: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16; Psalm 89 (Luke 1:46-55); Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38 The excitement, celebration, and anticipatory hope for change attending the election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States has in recent weeks been replaced in the public eye by another image – that of bankers, brokers, and corporate executives sitting before members o...
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 ...