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 …
The Intimacy of Faith
The Gospel of John is often regarded as a very “spiritual” text, perhaps even an abstract, theological text. Some think it was included in the canon largely because it made claims about Jesus that other Gospels did not, claims that had become important to the Church, such as Jesus being God and stuff. This, in turn, creates the possibility of …
From Death into Life
This is the season when we sit with death and find the way to new life. Doug Pagitt says that every preacher has four sermons that get preached over and over and over. I guess this is one of my four. I’ll take it. Last night was our Maundy Thursday service. It was a very Church in the Cliff night. …
Holy Week: A Meditation on Death
Next week is Holy Week, the culmination of Lent and the gateway to Eastertide. During Holy Week, we remember the last week of Jesus’ life and the death that has come to mean so much. Growing up in a prosperous Southern Baptist church, we didn’t do Holy Week, or even Lent, for that matter. We talked about Palm Sunday, but …
Mostly Dead
When Fezzik and Inigo Montoya bring Westley to Miracle Max, they are sure that Westley is dead. They do not know so much, as Max explains, “It just so happens that your friend here is only mostly dead. There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead.” It seems that Michael Goldman, who wrote The Princess Bride, is a …
Sin and Suffering
We had a rich and wide-ranging discussion on Wednesday night after dinner. We began discussing the long-promised fifth chapter of Marcus Borg’s Heart of Christianity, which concerns the place of Jesus as central to the Christian faith. As discussions of Christianity often do, this one eventually turned to the Bible. Specifically, we talked about how our witness to the life …
How is Lent Going?
We often treat Lent like New Year’s: a set of resolutions that will make us better people in the end, the people that we always wanted to be. We start a new diet or give up desserts or determine to pray more. These become chores that drag us down in our already busy schedules. By this, the Third Sunday of …