Advent on the way to the Cross The times are too desperate for “Away in the Manger.” The situation is too dangerous for “Silent Night.”
Tale of Two Feasts Much depends on who eats and who doesn’t, on who is invited to dinner, on who is the host, and on where you eat.
Imagining Healed Daughters It's tough to be a woman. But, the reason why I find the Jesus-story we share in this room so compelling is how radically different he was in the world. Every small step towards healing requires someone releasing power. Jesus is willing to give up power in this exchange.
Remembering, Forgetting and the “F” Bomb Any alternative narrative, any liberating vision, has to engage in an imaginative act of forgetting … and remembering.
Beyond Smugness: The Beatitudes Again If we can be smug about this radical teaching of Jesus, then we demonstrate in our very smugness that we don’t get it.
Resurrection, Jesus and Leonard Settling in either knowing or unknowing, resolving the tension of faith and doubt would have been cheap and superficial, regardless of where one landed.
Easter! Too Good to be True? What if the story that scripture tells isn’t a fairy tale… what if instead, all fairy tales are resonating with and hinting at this singular real story that shapes our history? What if we’re created to long for these stories, to recognize them as familiar?
Hold Fast to the Head Hold fast to the head, and let your ethics flow from that. Stay immersed in the covenant story and your actions will be shaped by it. Don’t need no baggage, don’t need no ticket, just get on board.
Kingdom Fruitfulness: A New Targum This is the word of truth, in a time of such ubiquitous deceit. This is the word of truth, that speaks power and life in the face of repression and death.
God on the Loose Memory can trap us. Many of us have memories linked to shame, inadequacy, and pain, like Israel’s memory of their broken covenants and spiritual infidelity, and these can paralyze us in bitterness, self-pity, and self-doubt.
Advent and the King without Bling Kings with bling love extravagant and vulgar display. Especially at parties for their rich and powerful friends. The servant king likes parties too. But his parties are for everyone. And the meal begins very simply with a loaf of bread and a jug of wine.
Celtic Soul at the End of a Very Bad Week What we have seen in the last week, and what Isaiah saw in the ruins of Israel is the failure of imagination, the inability to imagine life radically different from the status quo.
The God whose name isn’t God This God, He reserves the right to define himself on his own terms. This God, She moves in mysterious ways. This God will not fit into a gendered box, or any other box for that manner. This God shatters any boxes we try to put around them.