Kerry Weber’s Mercy in the City: How to Feed the Hungry, Give Drink to the Thirsty, Visit the Imprisoned, and Keep Your Day Job is a delightful book. She chronicles her adventures as a young adult seeking to be faithful to God in the challenges of everyday life. There is no bombast or spiritual pyrotechnics in the book, just simple day to day faith, sometimes spot on, other times muddling through. Though Catholic in tradition, Weber’s book is catholic in spirit,... Read more
Lectionary Reflections for the Sixty Sunday after the Epiphany – February 16, 2014 Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Psalm 119:1-8 I Corinthians 3:1-9 Joy and wholeness are not accidental in the biblical tradition. While some people do enjoy the accidents of good fortune, over the long run well-being is related to the quality of our spiritual lives and commitment to personal and relational integrity. This Sunday’s readings turn us toward health of body, mind, and spirit, and assert that personal and communal well-being... Read more
Lectionary Reflections for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany – February 9, 2014 Isaiah 58: 1-9a Psalm 112:1-10 I Corinthians 2:1-16 Matthew 5:13-20 Today’s scripture passages discuss the nature of personal and communal spirituality. The Hebraic and early Christian traditions, from which our scriptures emerged, see the individual and community as profoundly interdependent. Communities as well as individuals are challenged to embody a holistic spirituality that embraces corporate justice seeking, communal worship, and personal acts of piety and generosity. While... Read more
A Response to Death at the Movies: Hollywood’s Guide to the Hereafter, by Lyn and Tom Davis Genelli Death at the Movies is a tour through cinematic images of the afterlife. Movies and television programs both reflect and shape our opinions and interests. One area of great interest in recent years is the nature of the afterlife. Not too long ago, with the exception of a few intellectual elites, North Americans could sample only a few forms of post-mortem reflection: among... Read more
A Conversation with Edward Gilbreath’s Birmingham Revolution: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Epic Challenge to the Church The parents of the Protestant Reformation asserted that the reformation is always reforming. Although the children of the Reformation often became mired in issues of biblical inerrancy, the second coming, divine predestination, and the scope of salvation, there is an inherent unrest in Protestantism. We can see the Promised Land in the distance, but we can never claim to fully settle there. God’s horizon... Read more
Lectionary Reflections on the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany – February 2, 2014 Micah 6:1-8 Psalm 15 I Corinthians 1:18-31 Matthew 5:1-12 Today’s scriptures turn our social norms upside down. The race is not always to the swift. The powerful don’t always win. Independence is a vice, and interdependence a virtue. Micah charts this week’s lectionary adventure. The prophet proclaims God’s loving kindness. God has gracefully led the people to freedom. Without God they would be an enslaved people. Grace... Read more
Lectionary Reflections for Sunday, January 26, 2014 Isaiah 9:1-4 ; Psalm 27:1, 4-9; I Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23 Today’s readings capture the spirit of the magi. Following the star, they find Jesus. The light of the Christ Child still shines are guides the way of pilgrims and those who struggle with personal and communal dis-ease. Light brings rejoicing. After years of chaos and despair, the light has come. The path ahead is clear and hope is on the horizon. So,... Read more
There is a saying, “God is like Elvis, you see God everywhere.” In light of Gary Tillery’s The Seeker King, we might say “We are like Elvis, you’ll see us everywhere.” Elvis Presley once admitted, “All I want is to know the truth, to know and experience God. I’m a searcher, that’s what I’m all about.” Behind the persona, fame, and fanfare, Elvis was a seeker. His broad interest in scripture, mystical experience, theosophy, and healing might lead us to describe... Read more
Lectionary Reflections on The Second Sunday after the Epiphany Sunday, January 19, 2014 Isaiah 49:1-7 Psalm 40:1-11 I Corinthians 1:1-9 John 1:29-42 What does it mean to be “chosen” by God? Images of vocation and call are often as problematic as helpful, personally and theologically. Often they are used to exclude some and elevate others and to assume a personal or national uniqueness that applies to oneself and one’s people but not to others. Moreover, is being “chosen” something unconditional,... Read more
Lectionary Reflections on The Baptism of Jesus for January 12, 2014 Isaiah 42:1-9 Psalm 29 Acts 10:34-43 (preferred reading Acts 10:1-23, 34-35, 44-48) Matthew 3:13-17 This Sunday we celebrate the life-transforming power of baptism. While baptism is not necessary for salvation, it is a sign of God’s grace and opens the door for experiencing a greater impact of God’s energy of love in our lives and communities. In like manner, just as a couple do not have to share rings... Read more
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