Surface, Depth and History

Must every bright light have a dark cloud?

April 8, 2013 By 2 Comments

By Debbie Blue

New Testament Reading: Act 9: 1-6 (7-20)

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

It’s Influential Man Sunday, with Peter and Paul as the focal characters.

The texts for today could be read as the stories that justify their place in determining the course of Christianity. It’s a good day (I think), to wonder what the story would be like with a different focus, with a few more voices—what about Tabitha who, according to Luke, was herself raised from the dead? Ah well.

Why Paul?

What we get is Peter and Paul (mostly.) Almost half the books in the New Testament are attributed to Paul (if not written by him) and half of Acts is given over to his deeds and words. Paul did the theology that has shaped much of Christian thought, though he didn’t walk with Jesus, or eat his fish and bread.

Paul doesn’t talk that much about what Jesus taught, he interprets the meaning of the death and resurrection of Christ. Was it good theology? Why Paul? [Read more...]

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The Law of Love

March 5, 2012 By 2 Comments

The Ten Commandments as a Way Station.

by Mike Stavlund

Old Testament Reading: Exodus 20:1-17

For Sunday, March 11, 2012: Year B—Lent 3

If you or I were coming down from Mt Sinai, what would the commandments be today? Would we even have any? It is hard to imagine that God intended for us to be so concerned with these ten laws, thousands of years later, literally and metaphorically chiseling them into stone, again and again, like some totemistic icon.

Are they instead simply arbitrary, meant for another time and place? A friend of mine insightfully suggests that–in our day and age–they are exactly that: proxy measures for righteousness.

Situational Ethics, Reconsidered

To be clear to my wife and everyone else, I’m not planning on contravening commandments number six and seven. But I teach undergraduate ethics, and understand something about moral complexities: I will bear false witness to help someone, I don’t honor fathers who are abusive, I have crucifixes in the house, and I sometimes preach on Sunday. And it might be a good thing for me to covet my neighbor’s new all-electric Nissan Leaf, basking in the blue glow of its charging station, waiting to be pre-warmed via iPhone app just before he silently jets off to work in the morning.

But I digress.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Exodus, Featured, Old Testament, YearB Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

A Way Without Violence

January 3, 2011 By 3 Comments

What does it mean that Jesus insists that John baptizes him for the forgiveness of sin to fulfill all proper righteousness?

by Russell Rathbun

Gospel Reading: Matthew 3:13 – 17

For Sunday, Jan. 9, 2011: Year A – Baptism of Our Lord

The Baptism of Jesus by John: Always problematic − well known, an iconic image, but always problematic. What does it mean when John says to Jesus on the occasion of our Lord submitting Himself to the Forerunner, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” John tried to prevent him, tried to pull him up off his knees, kind of scootch him back on to dry land, but Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”

Let it Be So Now

The first clause is like a prayer from some ancient spiritual practice. Let it be so now. Let it be so now. John’s sense of propriety, of the way things should be or would be has been turned upside down—he is perplexed and grasping for the order he had hoped to impose. But Jesus’ response is, Let it Be So Now. For it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness. Righteousness is fulfilled when the order is turned upside down and one does not move to right it, but breathes in, breathes out and prays, Let it Be So Now.

My People

My people come from Missouri, North and East of Kansas City. It is a middling place, a split or in-between place. Missouri was a split state in the Civil War. Over in St. Louis, they chose to put the headquarters of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, which works like a mainline protestant denomination on paper and lives its life outloud like American Evangelicals. It is a place where Pentecostals rub up against Methodists and trade unions hold Bible studies.

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This Branch Is Slower than Christmas

November 28, 2010 By 15 Comments

Why is the stump of Jesse taking so long to fill the whole world with the knowledge of God?

by Danielle Shroyer

Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 11:1-10

For Sunday, December 5, 2010 Year A - Advent 2

Picture it: Sicily, 1928. (Golden Girls fans, you’re welcome.) Actually, the picture happened last year, at my son’s kindergarten Christmas program. There they all were, five- and six-year-olds, fidgeting on risers and fumbling with their little Christmas collars, big smiles on their faces and unashamed voices booming forth, singing, “You be the lion strong and wild, I’ll be the lamb, meek and mild; we’ll live together happily, ‘cause that’s how it ought to be.”

This passage from Isaiah has always been one of my favorites. It illustrates many of the deepest hopes I hold, the ones where our world will be filled not with pain and destruction but with righteousness and justice, that day when a little child shall lead us up to that holy mountain because we are ready, finally, to turn in our damaging ways for the way of the Lord.

Can we raise the banners yet?

At Advent, we Jesus-types declare our bold hopes for the world to the world. Go tell it on the mountain, we say, over the hills and everywhere! “Let earth receive her King!”, we sing.

Indeed, the first two stanzas of our Isaiah text leave us no reason to hold back our enthusiasm. In Advent we proclaim that Isaiah’s words have been made manifest through the Christ child, the branch growing forth from the tree of Jesse. And those of us who follow this Christ child affirm that yes, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding and the fear of the Lord rested upon his shoulders. We affirm that he has judged the poor with righteousness. We know all too well how, through those convicting parables, the words of his mouth have assailed us in all our shadowed places. We say all of this with holiday cheer and merriment, even, because we believe it’s the best thing — he’s the best thing — that has happened to us.

But then we get to the third stanza, the part about the lions and the lambs and the child-friendly snakes. There is a chasm the size of Texas between those two stanzas. There is a black hole of despair just waiting for us, daring us to try to make the jump. It’s all death eaters and dementors down there, sucking the life right out.

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Filed Under: Featured, Isaiah, Old Testament, YearA Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

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.)

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Filed Under: Featured, Luke, New Testament, YearC Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Tension of Creation

July 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The greatest tension is that we are created with the capacity for love and faithlessness–is faith that which exists along this dialectical line?

by Russell Rathbun

Psalm Reading: Psalm 85

For Sunday, July 25, 2010: Year C - Ordinary 17

This Psalm is filled with the tension of faith, or the tension that is faith. The first part, to be sung by a chorus in worship, affirms God’s past mercy to God’s people and asks for the return of that mercy in the present, a time of hardship—perhaps a time of drought, based on the imagery. In the second part, beginning with verse 9, a prophet steps forward to deliver God’s response: “Let me hear what God, the Lord, will speak…” The prophet listens and pronounces a promise of blessing and abundance, concluding, “The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps.” In the past God blessed us, delivered us, things were good. Now things are not so good. In fact, they are hard. We must have done something. Will God forgive us and restore things, bring back the crops, and bless us once again? We can ask, and we do so with a certain amount of confidence based on the relationship we have with our God. This sort of tension looks like faith to me.

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