22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, RCL)

While this is not the exuberant rhetorical surplus we find in 1 Corinthians 13, love is still Paul's guiding principle.

As I read the headline yesterday, my heart began to pound and my throat closed up: “School Clerk In Georgia Persuaded Gunman To Lay Down Weapons.” This was a good story—ultimately a hopeful one—but all I could see was “school” and “gunman."

The thing about serving as a prophet is that you are forever stuck between what God wants and what the people want.

Most churches in the New York area closed down as Hurri­cane Irene approached. My circumstance was a bit different.

God sent Moses on a mission to rescue his people from oppression. He was asked to risk his life in a costly but exciting adventure--a mission of compassion and justice on behalf of a million other people.

Maybe Peter scares Jesus.

In the New Testament, God's "violence" is a precondition of human nonviolence.

Peter tries to be supportive. Jesus calls him Satan.