Mary as One of Us: A Conversation with Denise Bossert’s Gifts of the Visitation: Nine Spiritual Encounters with Mary and Elizabeth.

Last updated on: March 19, 2015 at 1:19 pm By Bruce Epperly

In her new book, Gifts of the Visitation, Denise Bossert chronicles her adventures in discovering the role of Mary as a spiritual guide and model for her own spiritual formation. Her journey takes her from evangelical Protestantism to an orthodox understanding of Roman Catholicism. Along the way, she encounters Mary as a unique spiritual figure, divinely chosen and yet freely human. I am perhaps an interesting commentator on Mary’s role in the spiritual life and Bossert’s engaging text. I appreciate Denise... Read more

The Grace of Interdependence: A Response to Jamie Arpin-Ricci’s ‘Vulnerable Faith’

Last updated on: March 17, 2015 at 5:58 pm By Bruce Epperly

As a child growing up in the Salinas Valley in California, I grew up singing that grand evangelical hymn “Just as I Am,” popularized by the Billy Graham Crusades. Jamie Arpin-Ricci’s Vulnerable Faith brought me back to the revival meetings and evangelical theology of our small town Baptist church. While I no longer hold the theology of my childhood, there is still much truth in the hymn’s recognition that we are lost apart from grace. That’s the point of Vulnerable... Read more

The Adventurous Lectionary – The Fifth Sunday in Lent – March 22, 2015

Last updated on: March 15, 2015 at 8:38 am By Bruce Epperly

The Adventurous Lectionary – The Fifth Sunday in Lent – March 22, 2015 Jeremiah 31:31-34 Psalm 51:1-12 Hebrews 5:5-10 John 12:20—33 What is it like to have God’s law written on our hearts? For most of us, there is a dissonance between God’s vision and our behaviors and attitudes. Often God appears as an external agent, ready to judge us for our imperfections or as the voice of conscience alerting us when we’ve gone astray. Jeremiah promises a different kind... Read more

Encountering Jesus for the First Time: Responding to Richard L. Black’s Maximus

Last updated on: March 8, 2015 at 5:29 pm By Bruce Epperly

“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

The Adventurous Lectionary – Fourth Sunday in Lent – March 15, 2015

Last updated on: March 9, 2015 at 3:06 pm By Bruce Epperly

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

Adventurous Lectionary – Lent 3 – March 8, 2015

Last updated on: March 3, 2015 at 6:19 am By Bruce Epperly

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 Second Sunday in Lent – March 1, 2015

Last updated on: February 23, 2015 at 7:50 pm By Bruce Epperly

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

Last updated on: February 15, 2015 at 5:07 pm By Bruce Epperly

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

Contrast, Stature, and Having a Fat Soul: Reflections on Joan Chittister’s Between the Dark and the Daylight

Last updated on: February 27, 2015 at 5:15 pm By Bruce Epperly

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

Living by Your Affirmations: Reflections on Nelson Searcy’s “Tongue Pierced”

Last updated on: February 12, 2015 at 1:20 pm By Bruce Epperly

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

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