“Be not conformed to this world; but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2) These words capture the spirit of Richard Black’s Maximus. The book is about the gradual and then quantum transformation of a Roman general and his closest friend and colleague’s from military men to lovers and followers of Jesus. “This world” of past certainties must give way to an emerging spirituality, a faith without boundaries and fences, straining to be faithful to God’s movements... Read more
Adventurous Lectionary – The Fourth Sunday in Lent – March 15, 2015 Numbers 21:4-9 Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22 Ephesians 2:1-10 John 3:14-21 Today’s passages raise a variety of questions. Though they speak of divine rescue, they also suggest a dark side to divinity. God causes suffering or may be the source of punishment that far exceeds our misdeeds. These passages invite us to consider the relationship between grace, punishment, and personal responsible. Is God the source of punishment? Or, do certain... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary -The Third Sunday in Lent – March 8, 2015 Exodus 20:1-17 Psalm 19 I Corinthians 1:18-25 John 2:13-22 Today’s readings join theology, ethics, spirituality, economics, and public policy. They suggest that religion and politics really do mix, but in ways that baffle liberals and conservatives alike. While the Hebraic wanderers lived under the rule of a proto-theocracy, their understanding of the relationship of God and values is not a historical aberration. Even secular and pluralistic societies promote... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The First Sunday in Lent – March 1, 2015 Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 Psalm 22:23-31 Romans 4:13-25 Mark 8:31-38 An everlasting covenant! A covenant forged with Abraham and Sarah, and then us. Robert Jay Lifton has suggested that there are several types of immortality: biological, creative, naturalistic, mystical, and religious/chronological. In the reading from Genesis, Abraham is promised biological immortality. Childless Abraham and Sarah will become the parents of a great nation. They live on biologically in... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The First Sunday in Lent – February 22, 2015 Bruce Epperly Genesis 9:8-17 Psalm 25:1-10 I Peter 3:18-23 Mark 1:9-15 Today’s readings can take a preacher and congregation in a variety of directions. We can reflect on mystical experiences, the Holy Spirit, the nature of temptation, God’s care for the non-human world, and the scope of salvation. Perhaps, these apparently disparate topics are joined together by Jesus’ calling to share God’s good news. God’s good news... Read more
Joan Chittister’s Between the Dark and the Daylight: Embracing the Contradictions of Life is a hymn to spiritual stature. In a world that excludes and polarizes otherness, including the otherness in ourselves, Chittister argues that wholeness involves embracing the contradictions of life. A good life involves consciously embracing the totality of our experience, even the shadows and tensions of life. Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and so can we. Jesus’ uniqueness came through his hospitality toward others and himself;... Read more
How you talk to yourself can change your life! So says Nelson Searcy and his writing partner Jennifer Dykes Henson in their new book, Tongue Pierced. When the Psalmist says, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O God, my Rock and Salvation” (Psalm 19:4), he may be addressing our internal as well as external dialogues. What we say matters to us and it matters to God because our “meditations” enhance... Read more
Jack Levison’s 40 Days with the Holy Spirit invites you to take a journey in which you must let of control, go beyond your own understanding, and trust the wild winds of Divine Inspiration. You can’t put the Holy Spirit in a bottle. “The wind blows where it chooses,” so says Jesus. (John 3:4) You can’t confine the Spirit to a book, denomination, practice, style of prayer, or faith tradition. It blows everywhere, and yet speaks to each one of us... Read more
The Adventurous Lectionary – The Transfiguration of Jesus – February 15, 2015 2 Kings 2:1-12 Psalm 50:1-6 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 Mark 9:2-9 What is a transfigured life? Today’s readings are about glory and transformation. They invite us to see our worlds as “thin places,” transparent to the divine. The transfiguration of Jesus occurs in one such “thin place.” Historically mountaintops are seen as places of revelation. They are literally, figuratively, and spiritually closer to heaven than the flatlands. The disciples... Read more
God makes a way where there is no way. Even in football games? I was ready to turn off my television and cry in my beer after Jermaine Kearse made his own version of the “immaculate reception,” planting the Seahawks’ ball just a few yards from the goal line with plenty of time to spare. And, then, a miracle occurred. It must have been providence when unknown rookie Malcolm Butler stepped in front of Ricardo Lockette to intercept Russell Wilson’s... Read more
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