By Jim Kast-Keat.A look at the year 2015.You’ll always find what you’re looking for. Unless, of course, you’re Mary and Joseph, looking for your preteen son on your road trip home from the Passover festival in Jerusalem.This is the scene found in Luke 2:41-52, the Gospel reading for the final Sunday of 2015. Mary, Joseph, and Jesus joined other travelers on their annual pilgrimage. At the end of the festival they begin their trek home. Mary and Joseph assume Jesus is behaving like … [Read more...]
Learning from Mary in Our Age of Endless War (Luke 1:39-55)
December 14, 2015 by Leave a Comment
By Matthew L. Skinner.Author and activist Shane Claiborne champions a program that turn weapons of death into instruments of hope.National Geographic magazine recently named Mary, the mother of Jesus, “the most powerful woman in the world” as an appraisal of her ongoing influence and popularity. But do Mary’s words and example have a prayer of being heard and effecting change in this time of war?Life during WartimeIndeed, this is war. America has effectively been engaged in co … [Read more...]
The Challenge of Jonah Encountering Radicalization Through Radical Inclusion
December 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment
By Frances Flannery.Since the Paris attacks, many in the U.S. have drawn deeper boundary lines between “us” and “them” in an ugly way that in my lifetime I only recall seeing after 9/11. It is true that ISIS is related to Islam in an extremist way, much as the KKK is related to Christianity (think of the burning crosses). Yet this association has caused some politicians, pundits, and ordinary citizens to become much more suspicious of Muslims in general, despite the fact that far less than … [Read more...]
Ordinary Acts of Grace (Luke 3:7-18)
December 7, 2015 by Leave a Comment
By Eric D. Barreto.Habitat For Humanity NYC enlists volunteers to help rehabilitate old homes and build new homes that will eventually house the working poor in New York City.John the Baptist is an irritant in the midst of Advent.In the Gospel reading for this week in Luke 3:7-18, he is in the wilderness excoriating the crowds who came seeking baptism and repentance and deliverance. “Who warned you…?,” John wants to know. Who told you to come out here? What did you think you would … [Read more...]
Selective Salvation in a Fear-Filled World (Luke 3:1-6)
November 30, 2015 by Leave a Comment
By Karoline Lewis.“All flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:1-6). Well, that depends.It depends on where you are from. It depends on your country of origin. It depends on your religion. It depends on those with whom you are associated. It depends on your race, your ethnicity, your gender, your sexual orientation. The list of criteria for salvation, contrived predominantly from our many fears, is long according to the world as we know it today, but not according to the Gospel … [Read more...]
Black Friday: Can’t Buy Love (Jeremiah 33:14-16 and Luke 21:25-36)
November 23, 2015 by Leave a Comment
By Karyn L. Wiseman.Since 1924, the Friday after Thanksgiving has marked the start of the holiday shopping season. Now “Black Friday” is an American phenomenon where shoppers wait in line for hours, some for days, to get their hands on holiday gifts at bargain prices. Retailers lure shoppers with steep door-buster discounts, limited quantities, and by opening early and closing late. Black Friday sales have been advertised for weeks now it seems. Doorstoppers, insane discounts, buy 1-get … [Read more...]
