Can a saint be a “badass”? Can a saint be tough, sometimes abrasive, embodied, highly imperfect, and sensual? Can a saint be married, possibly divorced, but still God-centered? Author Maria Morera Johnson’s clear response in her new book is “Yes.” Or as Oscar Wilde asserted, “every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.” In My Badass Book of Saints: Courageous Women Who Showed Me How to Live, Johnson highlights women “saints” then and now. Oftentimes, our stereotypes of... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The First Sunday after Christmas Day – December 27, 2016 I Samuel 2:18-20, 26 Psalm 148 Colossians 3:12-17 Luke 2:41-52 This Sunday the key words are “growing in wisdom and stature.” As I ponder today’s passages, I am reminded of one of my teachers Bernard Loomer’s notion that S-I-Z-E is an essential theological concept. According to Loomer: By size I mean the stature of a person’s soul, the range and depth of his love, his capacity... Read more
Book Review: The Vulnerable Pastor: How Human Limitations Empower Our Ministry By Mandy Smith As I read Mandy Smith’s The Vulnerable Pastor, my spirit turned to the words of the Apostle Paul: “God said to me ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul is up against a wall. By his... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – Fourth Sunday of Advent – December 20, 2015 Matthew 5:2-52, Psalm 80:1-7, Hebrews 10:5-10, Luke 1:39-55 Christmas is on the horizon, and today’s scriptures may be lost amid the merriment as well as the Christmas pageants, often scheduled the week before Christmas. There is hope on the horizon and this hope is especially powerful among those who are oppressed, grieving, or living in uncertainty as they look toward the future. The Coming One may not resolve... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The Third Sunday of Advent – December 13, 2015 Zephaniah 3:14-20 Isaiah 12:2-6 Philippians 4:4-7 Luke 3:7-18 This Sunday we celebrate joy. Yet, this joy must come in the waiting. As I contemplate the scriptures from the Third Sunday of Advent, it is the Sunday of Christ the King, or the Reign of Christ (November 22), and I am still reeling from the terrorist attacks in Beirut and Paris. I feel under threat and am tempted... Read more
Carl McColman’s Befriending Silence: Discovering the Gifts of Cistercian Spirituality presents a mystical spirituality for everyday people. You don’t have to be in a monastery to experience God. You can be an everyday mystic, while you’re fixing breakfast for your children, driving to work, caring for an elderly parent, or giving your spouse a massage. God is in all things and holiness is found in every place and each encounter can be an invitation to holiness. A characteristic of monastic... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The Second Sunday of Advent – December 6, 2015 Malachi 3:1-4 Luke 1:68-79 Philippians 1:3-11 Luke 3:1-6 Advent is a time that joins patience and restlessness. We are waiting and waiting isn’t easy. We want Christmas now! We want fulfillment now! We want spiritual growth now! We want the world to change now! But the moral arc of history and our own spiritual arc often move slowly, organically, and at their own speed. The healing of... Read more
Advent without Guarantees We who must die demand a miracle. How could the Eternal do a temporal act, The Infinite become a finite fact? Nothing can save us that is possible: We who must die demand a miracle. (From W.H. Auden, “For the Time Being”) These words from W.H. Auden’s Christmas Oratorio, written in the dark days of World War II, speak to us as we begin the Advent Season. We have been rocked by terrorist acts in Paris and... Read more
God’s Gentle Providence: Dialoging with Thomas Oord’s “The Uncontrolling Love of God” Over the past few years, I have referred to God’s presence in our lives and in the world as “gentle providence.” God is at work in the world, seeking abundant life. But, God’s power is relational and persuasive and not unilateral and coercive. I follow the lead of the apostle Paul who proclaimed that “in all things God works for good.” (Romans 8:28) When Paul penned these words,... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The First Sunday in Advent – November 29, 2015 Jeremiah 33:14-16 Psalm 25:1-10 I Thessalonians 3:9-13 Luke 21:25-36 How do we feel as we look toward the future? Do we see continuity or discontinuity? Do we expect gradual evolution or cataclysmic change? Today’s scriptures suggest both options, and whether the result of our own actions, divine-human companionship, or unilateral divine action, the future will bring change? Jeremiah images hope in a naturalistic fashion. God’s new era... Read more
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