Authors /
Patrick J. Willson
Patrick J. Willson is a retired Presbyterian pastor who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
What does Job see?
After enduring Job's calamities, his howling laments, the speeches of his "friends," a hymn to wisdom as an entr'acte, Job's plea of innocence, an awkward interruption by Elihu, and then four chapters of the LORD speaking from the whirlwind, we finally arrive at the 42nd and last chapter of Job.
We discover that no one much agrees what it means.
Stranger than we knew
Alfred Lord Tennyson called Job "the greatest poem of ancient and modern times." Excerpts are regularly included in anthologies of world literature and religious poetry. It is an undeniable literary classic.
Why is it rarely preached in Christian churches?
Ordinary 30B: Job 42:1-6, 10-17
New daughters and sons do not take the place of the lost ones. As a conclusion to the story of Job, this will not do.
October 18, 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Job 38:1-7, (34-41)
If God’s response to Job in chapter 38 were meant only to shut Job up, seven verses would be sufficient. But God is only getting started here, and the exuberance of the rhetoric insists that vastly more is at stake.
Fearful and wonderful and ordinary
Here in Tidewater, Virginia, we make our way from city to city via a series of tunnels. As we approach each tunnel a series of signs warn us: “No HAZMATS” and “HAZMATS must exit here.” Trucks carrying hazardous materials of one sort or another provide a danger anywhere, but in tunnels the risk is magnified.
Discerning the body
“When you give a banquet,” Jesus said, “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind,” but he didn’t say anything about atheists.
Sunday, September 5, 2010: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
John Calvin grounded our need to know God in our createdness: "What is the chief end of human life?" he asked, and answered, "To know God by whom we were created." This yearning is not the same as our need to "know" other human beings.
Sunday, August 29, 2010: Luke 14:1, 7-14
In Williamsburg, Virginia, where I live, the fraternities and sororities of The College of William & Mary invite new members in (and leave others out). What's in and what's out translates cunningly into who's in and who's out.
Who we are: Luke 10:25-37
One of the satisfactions of reading Living by the Word is sometimes having our own interpretations affirmed and amplified by colleagues....
What to say: Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
A couple of months ago in the Century, Thomas G. Long discussed temptations faced by anxious preachers who must preach week after week, sometimes for several services each Sunday....
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