How I found the gospel while reading about an academic conference
Season after Pentecost | 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
Hosea 1:2-10; Psalm 85; (Genesis 18:20-32; Psalm 138;) Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19); Luke 11:1-13
If anyone can wax poetic about the power of a clean slate, it's Paul. In his mystical meanderings on the human body's relationship to the body of Christ, he doesn't ground his hope in the things that humans do (or don't do) in response to tradition, social pressure, or threats. He grounds it in the inclusive finality of Jesus Christ himself.
What is the point of prayer? The question is writ large in the texts from both the Hebrew scripture and the Gospel for this Sunday. The terrain is fraught with places to trip and fall.
The biological concept of convergence lends credence to a Christian view of providence—and fits with a scriptural account of a story-shaped world.
Biblical Prophecy, by Ellen F. Davis
Ellen Davis is full of surprises. Some are delightful, others raise questions for further study, and still others throw up stumbling blocks.
No one from the outside can fully grasp the inner workings of any marriage. Even those inside sometimes find themselves lonely and strangers.