The Adventurous Lectionary -The Seventh Sunday in Pentecost – July 3, 2016 2 Kings 5:1-14 Psalm 30 Galatians 6:7-16 Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 The encounter of Elisha and Naaman is at the heart of today’s scriptures. It could be titled, “the healing you need is right in front of you,” or in a lighter vein, “healing for dummies.” Naaman is a great military leader, both respected and feared. Yet, disease has rendered his life miserable. Disease and death are the great... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost – June 26, 2016 2 Kings 2:1-4, 6-14; Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20; Galatians 5:1, 13-25; Luke 9:51-62 Today’s readings ask us to launch out in new directions of faithfulness to God. They ask us to believe great things and trust God to work creatively and redemptively in our own freedom. They ask us to live by the spirit and in life-giving, not legalistic or guilt producing ways and to expect great things... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost – June 19, 2016 I Kings 19:1-15a Psalm 42 and 43 Galatians 3:23-29 Luke 8:26-39 You are now entering the spiritual twilight zone. The Old Testament and Gospel readings introduce us to the paranormal. Elijah encounters an angelic being and experiences God in sheer silence. Jesus encounters a man possessed by a legion of demons and proceeds not only to communicate with the demons but eventually exorcise them. The readings from... Read more
My first response to Andrew Marin’s Us Versus Us is “read this book!” It is well-researched, sensitive, irenic in spirit, and inclusive in attitude. It provides data and interpretation that can change minds, open spirits, and enable churches to share good news in ways that welcome the GLBT community. It is especially relevant to welcome-spirited evangelicals who realize that “hate the sin, love the sinner” is theological pablum, a dog whistle for intolerance, and is heard as “hate the sin, hate... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost – June 12, 2016 1 Kings 21:1-10, (11-14), 15-21a, Psalm 5:1-8 (and/or 2 Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-15, Psalm 32) Galatians 2:15-21 Luke 7:36-8:3 Today’s lectionary readings combine grace and challenge. The powerful and self-proclaimed righteous often forget their need for grace and, in consequence, use their power to destroy and exclude, thinking that their actions are “not personal, just business” or “just collateral damage,” or “part of the cost-benefit.” They cannot fully... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – Third Sunday after Pentecost – June 5, 2016 I Kings 17:8-16 (17-24) Psalm 146 Galatians 1:11-24 Luke 7:11-17 In today’s readings, God is portrayed as the source of amazing things: food in a drought, reviving the dead, and transforming our lives. When we see a dead end, God sees an open future. When we see scarcity, God dreams of abundance. God brings new life, feeds the hungry, and transforms spirits, sometimes when we least expect it... Read more
The dustcover of Joshua Steven Grisetti’s new book God in My Head announces that the author “experienced an accidental prescription drug overdose at a dentist’s office and subsequently had an unexpected encounter with the Almighty Creator the Universe.” Grisetti’s drug induced hallucinations opened the doors of perception, to use Aldous Huxley’s language, and awakened him to the vastness of the universe and a deity quite different than the patriarchal, often vindictive, loving, and ambiguous god of his fundamentalist upbringing. Grisetti doesn’t... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The Second Sunday after Pentecost – May 29, 2016 I Kings 18:20-39 Psalm 96 Galatians 1:1-12 Luke 7:1-10 What is your ultimate concern? Will you choose life or death, God or idols? Will you follow the path of Jesus or the wayward meanderings of materialism, individualism, and xenophobia? Will you open your heart to the stranger or mire in wall-building fear and self-interest? We have choices to make, and while they are seldom as stark as... Read more
Like any loving parent or grandparent, God will not quit pursuing us – or loving us. Not even death can hinder God’s pursuit, for nothing can separate us from the graceful and pursuing love of God. Read more
This post is part of a conversation on the new book The Soul-Making Room by Dee Dee Risher, for the Patheos Book Club. Philosopher Alfred North Whitehead claims that religion, at its best, aims at world loyalty. It begins, as the philosopher notes, with solitude, with our own personal experiences of the holy and the privacy inherent in every life, but recognizes what I call “the grace of interdependence,” recognizing that each moment is a gift of the environment as well... Read more
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