The Adventurous Lectionary – All Saints Day – November 1, 2015

Last updated on: October 26, 2015 at 5:24 pm By Bruce Epperly

The Adventurous Lectionary – All Saints Day – November 1, 2015 Isaiah 25:6-9 Psalm 24 Revelation 21:1-6a John 11:32-44 This Sunday we celebrate the interplay of tradition and transformation. We remember the saints, those who were faithful to God throughout history and in our congregations, and commit ourselves to embody the living thoughts, values, and actions of our deceased companions and saints of the church. We grieve on such days, but also rejoice in their lives and the difference they... Read more

Walking with Jesus: Reflections on Danielle Shroyer’s “Where Jesus Prayed”

Last updated on: October 22, 2015 at 1:25 pm By Bruce Epperly

In her new book, Where Jesus Prayed, Danielle Shroyer takes us on a spiritual walk with the Lord’s Prayer as her companion. She reminds us that faith is always on the move, and on the move, she discovers new dimensions of this ancient prayer, often lost when we repeat it sitting in church. Read more

Hospice and Healing: A Response to Janet Wehr’s ‘Peaceful Passages’

Last updated on: October 15, 2015 at 4:16 pm By Bruce Epperly

This post is part of a roundtable conversation for the Patheos Book Club on the new book, Peaceful Passages: A Hospice Nurse’s Stories of Dying Well, by Janet Wehr, RN. As a pastor, I have recommended hospice to congregants and friends for nearly thirty years. There comes a time when we need to let go – of our own lives and of the lives of our loved ones. We need to place them in God’s care, trusting God’s grace and... Read more

The Adventurous Lectionary – Pentecost 21 – October 18, 2015

Last updated on: October 10, 2015 at 10:58 am By Bruce Epperly

The Adventurous Lectionary – Pentecost 21 – October 18, 2015 Job 38:1-7, 34-41 Psalm 104: 1-9, 24, 35c Hebrews 5:1-10 Mark 10:35-45 The saga of Job continues with a meditation on the grandeur of God. Job has endured God’s absence, and God has endured Job’s rantings. Finally, out of a whirlwind, God speaks. God’s revealings of the universe in its complexity to Job are multisensory. In this theophany – divine encounter – I believe Job not only hears God’s voice,... Read more

When Jesus Shows Up: A Response to James Stuart Bell’s ‘Encountering Jesus’

Last updated on: October 9, 2015 at 5:28 pm By Bruce Epperly

God is present everywhere, inspiring everyone, all the time, and every so often we notice it. Revelation is natural and built into reality in all its dimensions, both human and non-human. Accordingly, I affirm with James Stuart Bell and those he invited to share their stories that when Jesus is experienced, that experience can change our lives, even in dire and apparently hopeless situations. Bell’s compilation of miraculous moments, titled Encountering Jesus: Modern-Day Stories of His Supernatural Presence and Power, invites... Read more

The Adventurous Lectionary – Pentecost 20 – October 11, 2015

Last updated on: October 3, 2015 at 8:00 am By Bruce Epperly

The Adventurous Lectionary – The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost – October 11, 2015 Job 23:1-9, 16-17 Psalm 22:1-15 Hebrews 4:12-16 Mark 10:17-31 Can God be fathomed? In the enormity of the universe, we know that our solar system is but a small speck. With the poet of Psalm 8, we wonder if amid 125 billion galaxies, God takes notice of our lives. We wonder if we matter at all. The grandeur of the universe gives birth to the apophatic approach... Read more

The Adventurous Lectionary – The Nineteenth Sunday of Pentecost – October 4, 2015

Last updated on: September 26, 2015 at 2:20 pm By Bruce Epperly

The Nineteenth Sunday of Pentecost – October 4, 2015 Job 1:1; 2:1-10 Psalm 26 Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-10 Mark 10:2-16 This week, it is appropriate to focus on the reality of suffering, not only in terms of the theological problem of evil but the pain we experience, either deserved or undeserved. What is God’s role in the suffering we experience? How do we creatively respond to the realities of suffering and pain, our own and other’s? The reading from Job addresses... Read more

The Adventurous Lectionary – Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost – September 27, 2015

Last updated on: September 20, 2015 at 7:18 am By Bruce Epperly

The Adventurous Lectionary – Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost – September 27, 2015 Esther 7:1-6, 9-10: 9:20-22 Psalm 124 James 5:13-20 Mark 9:38-50 This week, the theme is healing. God heals in many ways and through diverse people. There is no one healing path or modality, nor does any particular religious or medical tradition have a monopoly on divine healing. God heals through prayer, but also Prozac, as my friend Dale Matthews says; through medication and meditation; and through chanting and... Read more

Finding Spirituality in Suffering: Heather King’s “Stripped”

Last updated on: September 16, 2015 at 7:29 pm By Bruce Epperly

Stripped, Heather King’s new memoir on faith in the midst of a cancer diagnosis, brought to mind words from Viktor Frankl: “There is one thing I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings.” Pain and illness, loss and persecution, are moral and spiritual issues. They may drive us away from God. We may seek revenge on those we believe have harmed us. Or, we may discover how deeply we need God and answer God’s higher call to embrace suffering as a... Read more

Wherever There is Truth, God is its Source: On ‘The Gospel of Happiness’

Last updated on: September 15, 2015 at 7:38 pm By Bruce Epperly

Book Reflection: The Gospel of Happiness by Christopher Kaczor Can science and faith work together for the common good? Are the aims of psychology and theology similar in nature? Can psychology illuminate theology and theology support human flourishing as envisioned by psychology? Christopher Kaczor once saw faith and psychology as inhabiting two different and parallel worlds, with little need for interaction. Both could provide useful insights for human flourishing but their truths remained hermetically sealed from one another. Kaczor changed... Read more