My state has the same number of churches as prisoners. This fact haunts me.
Season after Pentecost | 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)
Exodus 1:8-2:10; Psalm 124; (Isaiah 51:1-6; Psalm 138;) Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20
In our Gospel text, some of Jesus’ disciples find his teaching hard. Eating his body? Drinking his blood? I didn’t sign up for this. Couldn’t I just pray for you?
The church is still uncomfortable with human bodies. It does little to promote the rich connection between bodies and Christian spirituality. Paul uses "body" as a metaphor, and contemporary Christians do the same when we say "the body of Christ." This metaphorical usage generally takes precedence in the church’s practice.
Bodies matter for Paul. And they matter for Christian discipleship. Paul foregrounds the human body as critical for the Christian response to God's mercy.
Robert McAfee Brown, selected with an introduction by Paul Crowley
Decades ago when I was a graduate student at Union Seminary in New York City, Robert McAfee Brown was the hot young teacher of theology.