I’ve been rewatching HBO’s The Wire lately. It’s a great show that humanizes the various kinds of systemic injustice we see around us so much that we no longer see it. Almost everyone is trapped in his or her particular role in “the game.” This, and his huge ego, inspires Tommy Carcetti to run for mayor of Baltimore. When he …
The Best Defense is Love
Christianity has always been a defensive faith, even from birth. Our lectionary texts this week bear witness to this. In Acts 17.22-31, we find Paul in Athens making an argument. He is trying to convince the Athenians that they had been worshiping his God all along and that, if they did not soon recognize, they would be condemned. In 1 …
Mansions in the Sky
There have been a lot of images of the afterlife offered over the course of human history. Billy Collins wrote a poem about it, appropriately titled, “The Afterlife,” in which he imagines the fate of different people according to each person’s own beliefs. Some are reincarnated as animals, some become bits of energy, some await judgment. It’s an interesting …
The Sheepgate
Most of what I know about sheep, which is very little, comes from the Bible. I know that many people to whom Jesus spoke were shepherds. Talk of sheep was a vital and timely metaphor for them; for us, not so much. Jesus didn’t use dog metaphors or car metaphors or computer metaphors, which means that we have to do …
Traveling with Strangers
After Jesus was crucified, Luke (24.13-35) tells us that two disciples were walking to Emmaus when a stranger began to walk alongside them. They looked sad as they spoke about all that had happened: Jesus’ ministry and judgment, the crucifixion and the resurrection. The stranger inquired about their conversation, perhaps wondering why they looked sad when their story appeared to …