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
The Adventurous Lectionary – The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany – February 8, 2015 Isaiah 40:21-21 Psalm 147:1-1l, 20c I Corinthians 9:16-23 Mark 1:29-39 Today’s readings invite us to look at life from a wider perspective. Our individual lives are part of a greater story, the universe and God’s story, adding by our decisions beauty or ugliness to our communities and implicitly to the whole. Psalm 147 connects social justice, the sustaining of the people, and the healing of the... Read more
The Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany – February 1, 2015 Bruce Epperly Deuteronomy 18:15-20 Psalm 111 I Corinthians 8:1-13 Mark 1:21-28 Today’s readings may seem irrelevant to many congregants. In mainstream and progressive churches, we don’t spend a lot of time talking about unclean spirits, the authority of prophets, or food sacrificed to idols. Our spirituality is, on the whole, horizontal rather than vertical. We don’t diagnose illness as caused by evil spirits, we’re a bit suspicious about those who... Read more
If God is for us, who can be against us? So wrote the apostle Paul nearly twenty-one hundred years ago. (Romans 8:31) I’m sure that Paul had no idea that his affirmation of God’s sovereign faithfulness to persecuted Christians would be invoked to explain the outcome of next Sunday’s Superbowl. But, to many fans, God is in control not only of historical processes and matters of salvation and spiritual growth but also the outcomes of sporting contests. According to the... Read more
Life is full of synchronous moments. After our congregation’s Tuesday noon Bible Study, I took a reading sabbatical to finish Tony Kriz’s Aloof: Figuring Out Life with a God who Hides. We had been studying Colossians 1:15-20 and reflecting on the author’s vision of a god who is both cosmic and intimate. The god described in Colossians 1:15-20 moves energetically through all things, working through the realities of chaos, freedom, and randomness to bring forth a world of beauty. God... Read more
This post is part of a discussion on the new book Practicing Compassion, by Frank Rogers, Jr. For more conversation, visit the Patheos Book Club here. Claremont School of Theology is my theological and spiritual home. At Claremont, I studied theology and philosophy of religion, received my ministerial training, and met my wife Kate. Like the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano, I always return to Claremont to renew my theological and professional vision. I return to Claremont because of... Read more
Third Sunday after the Epiphany Jonah 3:1-5, 10 Psalm 62:5-12 I Corinthians 7:29-31 Mark 1:14-20 Today’s lectionary readings invite us to embrace change, whether it involves our vision of God, personal plans, or way of life. It’s difficult to preach about Jonah without retelling the legend in its entirety. Jonah has earned the title the “reluctant prophet,” but often for the wrong reasons. Jonah flees the call to preach to the archenemy Nineveh, but his flight is not the result... Read more
Hassidic spiritual leader Rabbi Simcha Bunem of Pershycha once noted that “Every person should have two pockets. In one pocket, there should be a note that says, ‘for you the world was created.’ In the other pocket, there should be a note that asserts, ‘you are dust and ashes.’” These two quotes capture the interplay of perpetual perishing and everlasting life in human experience. Eben Alexander’s Map of the World attempts to describe the spiritual adventure, based on his understanding... Read more
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