Sunday, May 25, 2014: John 14:15-21
Compared to other attributes we assign to God, cherishing has received little attention. It’s easily absorbed into the broader category of love. Yet cherishing is a specific kind of love—one the inspires deep commitment.
Who we are and who we also are
In Jean Thompson’s novel The Year We Left Home, Anita extends an impulsive invitation to a mere acquaintance, Rhonda. Their lives have turned out very differently. Anita enjoys a contented home life with her husband and children, while Rhonda has endured an abusive boyfriend for far too long. So Anita invites Rhonda to her home, and says she can stay as long as she likes.
Driving home, Anita contemplates the implications of her sudden act of hospitality.
Sunday, May 18, 2014: 1 Peter 2:2-10
The recipients of 1 Peter lived far off the grid of Roman power. A people with no social standing, they were deemed unworthy of defending. And yet it is to these people that the letter proclaims lofty praise.
God Is Dead
Ever since Nietzsche made his famous pronouncement, theologians have wrung their hands over the metaphorical death of God. Yet what if God’s death were no metaphor?...
Thirteen Moons
Charles Frazier had a tough act to follow. His first novel, Cold Mountain, was both a literary and a popular sensation....
Paradise Mislaid
One of John Updike’s novels features a listless minister who spends most of his time at afternoon tea parties....
Mindful: Psalm 8
Calvin Trillin’s lighthearted and best-selling tribute to his late wife, Alice, has made husbands like me nervous....
Homesick: John 14:8-17, 25-27; Acts 2:1-21
When I was attending a university in Germany, I lived alone and did research in the university library. Occasionally, I was aware of that peculiar kind of loneliness called homesickness....
What about Zebedee?: Matthew 4:12-23
When fairy tales begin with the familiar phrase “Once upon a time,” they signal a mythical point of departure: the beginning of a great adventure. If Matthew had known this phrase, he might have employed it to introduce the calling of the first disciples, since his version of this story begins with the breathless anticipation of a fairy tale.
The other 'H' word: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-42
Gothic cathedral. A gay couple approaches holding hands. “Step aside, please,” say the muscle-bound guards. They speak similar words to an African-American girl, a Hispanic man, a young man in a wheelchair. Then, just as we realize that the two large men are “church bouncers,” the scene fades to black and the tag line reads: “Jesus didn’t turn people away. Neither do we.”