A Breath of Fresh Air

Resisting the temptation to make Paul one-sided.

November 25, 2012 By 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...]

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All That Glitters May or May Not Be Gold

GOD’s 6 step plan to happiness and the house of your dreams.

November 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

by Jodi-Renee Giron

Psalm Reading: Psalm 16

For Sunday, November 18, 2012, Year B − Ordinary 33

The psalmist, ascribed to be David, starts with a plea for protection from the Almighty One then unfolds into a number of reminders of the faithfulness of the one praying.

Reading it down, I can almost hear my own plaintive seven year old reminding me of all of the things he’s been doing to “be good” and that’s why he deserves the extra M&M’s after dinner. According to this prayer, which may have been an inscription or a very purposefully arranged song, David attributed his material abundance and physical safety to his own right choices following GOD’s instruction. [Read more...]

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Searching for a Miracle

Why doesn’t faith always heal?

October 22, 2012 By 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...]

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If This is a Pep Talk, I Give It an “F”

What about all the people who are fervently prayed for and never healed?

September 24, 2012 By 6 Comments

by Danielle Shroyer

Epistle Reading:  James 5:13-20

For Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012: Year B—Ordinary 26

I don’t have any concrete evidence on this, but I think this passage may be in the running to win a “Most Negative Spiritual Baggage” award. I can personally count a rather alarming number of conversations I’ve had with faithful people who have felt that they’ve prayed their hearts out over people they’ve loved only to see them not be healed. I’ve also seen my fair share of really terrible theological conclusions and manipulations that are pinned on a few of these verses. [Read more...]

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Wisdom and Justice

What do our prayers say about us?

August 19, 2012 By 14 Comments

by Nanette Sawyer

Old Testament Reading:  1 Kings 8: 1, 6, 10-11, 22-30, 41-43

For Sunday, August 26, 2012: Year B—Ordinary 21

King Solomon is a good man. He is admired and admirable, for the most part—a celebrated king. Sure, he does a few things that are hard for me to accept—like killing people to secure his kingship per the instructions of his father, King David. I don’t take that as an example of how we should be in the world, I just take that as a reflection of how the world is, and how a human being can be.

Solomon’s wisdom, for which he is famous, is reflected in his prayers at the dedication of the temple. Once again, like his first interaction with God, he doesn’t ask for riches or long life for himself. He doesn’t even ask for victory in battle. In his first interaction with God, he asks for wisdom. At the dedication of the temple, he asks for justice and for God’s presence with the people, that God would hear them. (Be sure to read the whole prayer, the middle of which is left out of the lectionary portion.) [Read more...]

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What in the World?

May 13, 2012 By 12 Comments

So are we in the world, or are we not of the world?

by Danielle Shroyer

Gospel Reading: John 17:6-19

For Sunday, May 20, 2012: Year B—Easter 7

If you’ve ever read a commentary on John, you’ve probably heard that it became the patron gospel of the Gnostics, the poster child of dualists everywhere.

Is Dualism Running the Show?

John’s gospel is what nowadays we’d call “New Age-y” because it’s always talking about “the world” as if it’s this thing outside of us, as if we could decide whether to be t/here or not.

This is why I wish Jesus’ prayer was recorded in one of the other gospels, as I could all but guarantee it would be shorter and less ethereal. Alas, in these verbose passages there’s a danger to categorize John as one who hangs posters of cherubic angels over his fireplace and has a prism hanging from his rearview mirror in his car.

The dualism seems to be running the show.

Me and You, and You and Me…

The primary theme on display in this prayer is the relationship between Jesus and the Father, which can start to sound a little like the Turtles song. However it’s no light matter. Jesus is trying to get his estate in order, for he knows all hell is going to break loose when he enters Jerusalem. He’s praying out loud in front of the disciples, ostensibly to help them understand their relationship to God as much as he is praying to God on their behalf.

It’s a divine hand-off prayer.

But then there’s this business about “the world.” The word “world” occurs thirteen times between verses 6-19, which evens out to once per verse. And yet, with all those mentions, I can’t say exactly what Jesus is getting at here. If we attempt to condense them, it sounds something like this:

God gave Jesus the disciples from the world. Jesus isn’t asking on behalf of the world. Jesus is no longer in the world, but the disciples are in the world. Jesus spoke things into the world. The world hated the disciples because they don’t belong to the world, and neither does Jesus. But Jesus does not want God to take them out of the world. Because just as Jesus was sent into the world, so Jesus is sending the disciples…into the world.

[Read more...]

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“A, B, C, as easy as 1, 2, 3…”

November 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Does the King God in the sky rain down blessings if we ask long enough?

by Russell Rathbun

Psalm Reading: Psalm 123

For Sunday, Nov. 13 , 2011: Year A—Ordinary 33

I like early Jackson 5 as much as anyone. Michael is telling a young girl that he is going to teach her all about love and it is as easy as 1, 2, 3; or simple as do, re, mi—a, b, c—1, 2, 3, baby you and me, girl!  This is catchy and sweet, and all, but of course very naive. And taken in the context of MJ’s life history of relationships, well….inadequate.

1, 2, 3…

Psalm 123 is sort of like that.

It is a worship song, sung by post-exilic pilgrims to their Lord, the king of heaven. It describes the posture of the relationship. They are down on the ground, where there is suffering, scorn and contempt, looking up to the sky for mercy. The Lord King is on the throne in heaven looking down. Or maybe the Lord King is ignoring them, verse 2 says, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he has mercy upon us.

There is the expectation that the Lord King will likely not take notice of them or at least not grant them their request immediately.

Inadequacy?

Supplicants turning their eyes toward heaven to pray for mercy from the assumingly benevolent God King is a nice image. It is a simple and concrete understanding of the Creator/created relationship, but it is naive and inadequate. It is an un-evolved understanding of God.

[Read more...]

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Prayer and the Automatic Teller Machine

July 24, 2011 By 2 Comments

Is God an ATM?

by Karen Gibson

Psalm Reading: Psalm 17:1-7, 15

For Sunday, July 31, 2011: Year A—Ordinary 18

I was right. He was wrong. He went to bed. I let the dogs out into the back yard. I flopped in a chair and started to pray (it helps if you kind of pray the following to the tune of In The Still Of The Night).

In the still, still of the night, hear me O LORD, hear me right, hear me this night. I am so right, he is so wrong, I’m doing your will, and he’s being a big pill. You will listen, you always do, I’m seeking refuge, and I’ll find it in you. My man’s gotta pay, for all he had to say, when I wake in the morning, I’ll be OK (and he’ll see it my way!) Do wop, do wop, if he don’t!!!

Two Readings

Psalm 17 is a song/prayer too. After introductory verses 1-3, it displays a nice chiastic form. However, the lectionary folks whacked out some verses, so we’re looking at the whole psalm.  I’m going at this a couple of ways:  First Reading-what if Psalm 17 treated God like some kind of cosmic ATM that automatically responds on cue.  Second Reading–what if our ATM God doesn’t automatically respond as expected?

Just enter your PIN number (aka First Reading).

Lord I have my stuff together. Hear my prayer. I’m a good. I know you will hear my prayer. My lips are uber-clean. You know right from wrong, and I’m right. If you test me, I’ll pass. You know I’ve laid my evil ways aside. I’m a peaceable person. I follow you. You take care of me. You love those who seek refuge in you, especially those who are high-tailing it from their enemies.

[Read more...]

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The Elusiveness of Unity

May 29, 2011 By 12 Comments

What does it mean when even Jesus’ prayer hasn’t been answered?

by Danielle Shroyer

Gospel Reading: John 17:1-11

For Sunday, June 5, 2011:  Year A—Easter 7

Here’s the issue I have with John’s Jesus: he’s verbose. And Jesus, it seems to me from all the other gospels and the basic sense I get about him, was not one of those people who droned on and on because he loved the sound of his own voice. We know plenty of people like that. I wonder if John may have been like that, but Jesus? Jesus is the guy who always says less than you wished he would. He’s the guy who can bring your entire paradigm down with a one-liner. He’s not, in my opinion, someone who spouts ten minutes of repetitive dialogue like a monologue from a bad indie movie.

I bring this to your attention because you may think John makes Jesus sound a little bit like that in chapter 17. I may tend to agree with you. However, we will all try to move on and envision Jesus praying this prayer in his more edited, standard laser-to-your-heart-before-you-count-to-three-kind-of-way.

Game Time

So the first thing we need to remember is that Jesus isn’t that guy—the one with the luxury to be verbose. Who he is in this passage is someone who’s got a very limited amount of time left to teach his disciples. He’s in the middle of an eleventh hour crash course on “everything you need to know before all goes berserk between Good Friday and Easter.” It’s game time, and in this moment Jesus offers up a prayer for his followers, mindful of what they will have to endure (and with an eye toward all of us who will come long after them). The prayer itself is a teaching moment too, emphasizing some key points in John’s Gospel: 1) God and Jesus are mutually glorifying each other like two mirrors reflecting light back and forth, 2) eternal life is knowing God, and 3) Jesus’ disciples know that he is sent from God.

After all of those introductory, clarifying (maybe a bit circumlocutory but we are trying to get past it) comments are made, Jesus lays his prayer out there in true zinger-like fashion: “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.”

Houston, we have a problem

Let’s just let that hang in the air for a moment.

We don’t have to get to Martin Luther, or even to the East/West schism of 1054, to know that Christian unity hasn’t lived up to Jesus’ prayer for us. Peter bailed on Jesus and his friends just a chapter later. Paul and Barnabas parted ways halfway through the Book of Acts. And us? If you checked the

[Read more...]

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The Parable Trap

October 17, 2010 By 9 Comments

Is the Pharisee’s self-justification built on the Law or his comparison to others?

by Russell Rathbun

Gospel Reading: Luke 18:9-14

For Sunday, Oct. 24, 2010: Year C – Ordinary 30

Jesus continues with his qualifications of prayer parables this week. But first the author of Luke messes with our heads a little bit. Not only do we get more of the tumbling logic of the-first-shall-be-last-but-the-last-are-first variety, but this entire pericope is set up to contradict its implied central point.

Contemptuous Regard

Before I get into that fun at the end, I want to begin with, well, the beginning (if that’s OK). I don’t know what to make of, “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt . . . .” Does that mean that he was telling the previous parables to people who regarded others with contempt, and now tells them this one?

That would include the both the Pharisees and the disciples. Is Luke purposely equating the two groups? Is there something about being a religious leader that makes one susceptible to self-righteousness and contempt for others? (Sorry, that’s really an obvious statement placed in the form of a question in an attempt to distance myself from its sting.)

[Read more...]

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