Blog, Episode 3, Wholly Human
The Beatitudes as presented by Matthew are beautifully crafted prose, in fact, they come across as rather poetic. Apart from the aesthetic appeal, Matthew offers them as vitally important. Not only are they the first teaching of Jesus, he is placing Jesus in the...
Blog, Episode 1, Wholly Human
Perhaps you were once the new kid at camp where the more experienced campers took you out at night on a snipe hunt. If so, equipped with a light (to attract the bird) and a bag (to catch it) you were left figuratively and literally holding the bag while the other kids...
Blog, Episode 4, Into This World
When asked how many children we have, my wife’s practiced response is “we raised seven.” That is because we have been parents in a variety of forms: two biological children, three adopted children, numerous foster children (two of whom we helped...
Blog, Episode 3, Into This World
Carol our Christmas, an upside-down Christmas: snow is not falling and trees are not bare. Carol the summer, and welcome the Christ Child, warm in our sunshine and sweetness of air. Those words of a hymn by New Zealander, Shirley Erena Murray, describe the holiday as...
Blog, Episode 1, Into This World
Many of us are not very physical in our acts of worship. For the most part we sit and stand as we are able. Some traditions add kneeling or making the sign of the cross. When it comes to bowing before God, most often we do that figuratively rather than literally. When...
Blog, Dwelling, Episode 6
This building metaphor for Christianity is interesting. Somewhere along the journey which established our religious institutions, we rejected the concept of a mobile tabernacle where we looked for direction and forgot that our ancestor was a wandering Aramean. We also...
Blog, Dwelling, Episode 5
The Narrative Lectionary does a curious thing with the reading for this Sunday. After some of the last words from Isaiah of Jerusalem (First Isaiah) we hear some of the earliest. Chapters 36 and 37 urge trust in God to protect Jerusalem from the attack of Sennacherib...
Blog, Dwelling, Episode 4
You know you’re gonna have to face it…you’re addicted to love… Your lights are on, but you’re not home Your mind is not your own Your heart sweats, your body shakes Another kiss is what it takes You can’t sleep, you can’t eat...
Blog, Dwelling, Episode 3
The truth? You can’t handle the truth. That classic movie line was about the ugliness of the truth that helped to maintain comfort for the many by a few doing things that were ethically questionable. Often, the role of the prophet is shining a light in these...
