faith

Put Your Sword in its Sheath

From frantic to patient, from fighter to fisher.

April 8, 2013 By The Hardest Question 2 Comments

By Debbie Blue

Gospel Reading: John 21: 1-19

For Sunday, April 4, 2013: Year C—Easter 3

Personally, I’m relieved that the disciples decide to go fishing here in the epilogue of John’s dense and sometimes difficult to read text.

Going Fishing

The Gospel for Easter 3C is a good story (whoever may have written it)—almost breezy and funny in comparison to some of the more arduous discourses the author takes us through.

Many good readers take this fishing trip to be an indication that the disciples have failed in their call to be disciples—they are going back to what they know (fishing), instead of moving forward as disciples. But the disciples aren’t actually fisherman in the gospel of John, or at any rate the author doesn’t mention this as their vocation. Maybe they aren’t regressing—maybe they are relaxing. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, John, New Testament, YearC Tagged With: breakfast, Debbie Blue, faith, fishermen, fishing, fishing expedition, john, peter, poetry, Politics, relax, resurrection

Less Faith

What would it mean to confess a Thomasian Creed?

April 1, 2013 By The Hardest Question 3 Comments

by Mark Stenberg

Gospel Reading: John 20:19–31

For Sunday, April 7, 2013: Year C—Easter 2

Imagine, with me, that particular moment. What was happening during that moment in human history when Thomas confessed his un-faith: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe?”

Was he in danger? Was his faith revoked, nullified? Was he abandoned by God? Was his name stricken from the Book of Life?

Thomas the Scapegoat

“Doubting Thomas.” His name lives in infamy, the subject of scorn and shame. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, John, New Testament, YearC Tagged With: doubt, faith, john, Mark Stenberg, prologue; scapegoat; doubting thomas, Thomas

The End of the World

Is this that?

November 25, 2012 By The Hardest Question Leave a Comment

by Michael Danner

Gospel Reading: Luke 21:25 – 36

For Sunday, December 2, 2012; Year C—Advent 1

This passage begins with apocalyptic thunder, as Jesus overwhelms his hearers with the unspeakable doom they are about to experience. The heavenly bodies will be shaken. People will freak out and faint with terror. They will be filled with anxiety about the future. The End is here!

Sandwich-Board Guy

I’ve never pictured Jesus as a sandwich-board wearing street preacher with a message of doom before, but it seems like “that guy” and Jesus have similar messages. And, let’s be honest, while we (or at least I) dismiss “sandwich-board guy who warns of impending doom,” that is the message that fuels the 24/7 cable news cycle—albeit in a more nuanced and sophisticated way. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Luke, New Testament, YearC Tagged With: apocalypse, end of the world, faith, hope, Jesus, Michael Danner, redemption

A Breath of Fresh Air

Resisting the temptation to make Paul one-sided.

November 25, 2012 By The Hardest Question Leave a Comment

by Michael Danner

Epistle Reading: 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

For Sunday, December 2, 2012; Year C—Advent 1

The Apostle Paul was a passionate defender of the faith. He dismantled error with a razor-like intellect. His reasoning abilities, top-notch. His style was in-your-face, no-holds-bared, truth-telling. He never backed down from a good debate (argument?). It was often his way or the highway (just ask Peter, Barnabas, and John Mark to name just a few).

And yet, this is not all there is to Paul. As a matter of observation, it appears to me as if Paul mellowed the further he got away from his Pharisaical roots and the closer he walked with the crucified Jesus. In Paul’s letters, we encounter Paul as an exceptional and thoughtful mentor who cared deeply about people, their profession and their practice of the faith. [Read more...]

Filed Under: 1 Thessalonians, Featured, New Testament, Uncategorized, YearC Tagged With: Dali Lama, enemies, faith, love, Michael Danner, Paul, political, practices, prayer, Rush Limbaugh, spiritual disciplines

Searching for a Miracle

Why doesn’t faith always heal?

October 22, 2012 By The Hardest Question 1 Comment

by Carol Howard Merritt

Gospel Reading: Mark 10:46-52

For Sunday, October 28, 2012: Year B—Ordinary 30

My father and I entered a huge concrete block building, crowded with people. My dad didn’t use a cane but he needed to, so he held the back of my neck. I was about nine-years-old and just the right size to be a human crutch. I walked slowly, with the weight of him leaning on me.

My father had a neurological condition that grew worse over time. He had no control over his lower body and moved his feet by swinging his arms and chest. Eventually he acquiesced to a cane, a walker, and a wheelchair. He fought each digression with a hearty denial. But his body never cooperated with his strong will. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Mark, New Testament, YearB Tagged With: Bartimaeus, blind, carol howard merritt, doubt, faith, faith healers, formula, healing, magic, prayer, sickness

Is The Book of James Proto-Marxist?

Luther Was Wrong, Behavior Is Believable.

September 2, 2012 By The Hardest Question 3 Comments

by Carl Gregg

Epistle Reading: James 2:1-14

For Sunday, Sept. 9, 2012: Year B — Ordinary 23

Martin Luther dismissively called The Book of James a “right strawy epistle.” Luther wanted to base the Reformation on phrases such as sola scriptura (“by Scripture alone”), sola fide (“by faith alone”), and sola gratia (“by grace alone”). But the Bible is an anthology that does not speak in one voice, and prophets such as James are a vital counterweight to the idea that one can be saved by “grace alone.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, James, New Testament, YearB Tagged With: Carl Gregg, faith, james, Luther, Marx, reformation, salvation, sola scriptura, Works

You’re Going the Wrong Way!

How do they know where we are going??

July 29, 2012 By The Hardest Question Leave a Comment

Epistle Reading: Ephesians 4:1-16

For Sunday, August 5, 2012; Year B—Ordinary 18

I love the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles staring Steve Martin and the late John Candy. In one scene, John Candy’s character inadvertently drives his car onto the interstate going against the flow of traffic. Motorists on the other side of the highway (the side he is suppose to be on) try to warn them by yelling, “You’re going the wrong way!!!”

John Candy’s character turns to Martin, laughs them off and says, “They’re drunk, how do they know where we are going?”

Jesus Followers as A-Theists

July 1, 2012 By The Hardest Question 1 Comment

Foolishness meets Reason.

by Neal D. Presa

Epistle Reading: 2 Corinthians 12:2-10

For Sunday, July 8, Year B − Ordinary 14

When I first began thinking about this post, an alliance of secular and humanist organizations trumpeting the removal of religion and faith from public discourse and government gathered in the thousands in the National Mall in Washington D.C. in what was dubbed as the Reason Rally. Famed evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins was reported by USA Today to have rallied the crowd to show “ridicule and contempt” towards the doctrines and beliefs of people of faith.

Say “What?!”

This THQ musing is not an apologetic, nor is it a refutation of Dawkins or the tenets of the Reason Rally. Classical Christianity, and the evangelical traditions, in particular, would regard the statements and principles of the Reason Rally as the proverbial “thorn in the side” to borrow the Apostle Paul’s terminology. I would not be so quick to attribute thorny-ness to secular humanists, nor to those even within the household of faith who think they have all the answers figured out.

In point of fact, hasn’t and shouldn’t the Christian faith be a-theistic? You might be saying, “What?! How can Neal even say that?”

Christian A-Theism

Reformed evangelical pastor Tim Keller of NYC’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church in The Prodigal God aptly reminds us that the early Christian movement a few decades following our Lord’s resurrection, and certainly in the growth in the second and third centuries, was the counter-cultural, counter-intuitive alternative to the pantheon of deities, the challenge to imperial-sanctioned cults that required a system of sacrifices for divine appeasement.

Sense My Body

June 24, 2012 By The Hardest Question 2 Comments

“Reach out and touch—faith!”

by Clint Schnekloth

Gospel Reading: Mark 5:21-43

For Sunday, July 1, 2012: Year B – Ordinary 13

There is a lot of touching going on here, a lot of sheer physicality.

Jairus falls at Jesus’ feet. He begs Jesus to place his hands on his daughter. The people are swarming (Mark 5:24; CEB). A woman is menstruating. A woman is touching a man’s clothes in public; a woman who can sense things in her own body. Jesus can tell when power goes out of him. A crowd is pressing against Jesus (Mark 5:31; CEB). The woman falls down in front of Jesus.

Compare this to a recent complaint I heard from a pastor attending a synodical event, who was offended that all the worshippers were invited to pat each other’s heads. Or compare it to my own discomfort with dispensing hugs at church unless I am hugged first.

What disembodied souls we are becoming.

Touching Bodies

There is simply something about touching and healing, and there is no getting around the touching and feeling and healing here in Mark. It’s a sweaty, swarming crowd, and in the middle of this teaming crowd there are people bleeding, and others willing to fall in the dust or the muck at the feet of one man in that crowd.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Mark, New Testament, YearB Tagged With: blood, Clint Schnekloth, Depeche Mode, faith, healing, Jesus, The Healing Touch Program, Touch

Bailing Buckets

June 17, 2012 By The Hardest Question 5 Comments

Sometimes Jesus gets grouchy.

by Mike Baughman

Gospel Reading: Mark 4:35-41

For Sunday, June 24, 2012: Year B—Ordinary 12

For most pastors, this is an easy Sunday. They flip open to Mark 4, see that this is the story of God calming the storm. They think of the metaphorical storms in congregants’ lives and tweak up their best “Jesus can calm the storm in your life” sermon.

It’s a good sermon and a good message. If that’s the sermon you want to preach, go for it. Feel free to ignore what I write below.

Jesus is Kind of a Jerk

I’ve spent some time sailing—I’ve been trapped in the midst of a sudden storm with swells as big as the boat I was in. It’s scary…like I’m glad I was wearing a bathing suit scary because it makes the pee a lot less noticeable. If my sailing partner had been napping at the time, I sure as hell would have woken her up!

Still, I’m not bagging on Jesus. I can relate. The disciples might have just been waking up Jesus to grab a bucket and start bailing water from the boat. I get pretty grouchy when people wake me up and want something from me, but I’m not sure the disciples deserve this kind of treatment.

“All hands on deck,” as they say!