The Story that is Coming The Scripture this week, whether in Isaiah or Mark, Peter or the Psalms, tells us of what is to come. But it’s the advent season, it’s Christmas time, and we know what is coming. The baby Jesus is coming, the heralded birth of the Messiah. We know the story. Mary and Joseph go to Bethlehem, …
Advent Week 1
Advent 2011: Hope The Text This Week: Mark 13:24-37 Excerpt, Inclusive Translation: (vs. 33-37) “Be constantly on the watch! Stay awake! You do not know when the appointed time will come. It is like an owner traveling abroad. They leave their home and put the workers in charge, each with a certain task, and those who watch at the front …
Day After the Day of the Dead
As those who have ever attended a birth or a death will tell you—all time is hallowed. I have left births I supported as a doula with my heart crying out— looking at folks passing in the street and thinking “how can the world keep on going?” “Don’t you know what has just happened?” “Don’t you see that the Mystery …
Something to Hold Onto
Presence I’ll begin my first guest email for CITC with a confession of theo-biblical geekery: I love the book of Exodus. I love it so much that I almost went for a PhD in Hebrew Bible instead of Pastoral Theology so I could stay in that story. Maybe it’s because when I write in Hebrew I don’t ink up my left hand, but I’m more inclined to think it’s the crazy …
Table Rock Lake
Dental hygienists have long been my sort of fantasy alternative profession. When things are hard in my work I wonder—why, why why am I drawn to these murky edge waters? Why do I consistently work for passionate little non-profits or churches (yes, CitC is but one in the line of funky start-ups which comprise my professional history). Why do I surround myself with people with strong opinions and intense personalities? Why can’t I just have a normal job?
Steel Wool Anxiety
Sometimes when you find yourself in exile—rather than groaning and longing for home, you do better to just plant a vineyard. Suck it up, says our prophet. Build a life where you are—even if it is not the home you thought you would have. This passage is the foundation for a local conference in which several of us participated on Saturday August 13. It was a beautiful chance to speak honestly with other souls about liminal Christianity.
Our Bodies, Ourselves
I try to avoid Pauline texts as much as possible. In addition to what in my estimation is a very non-systematic approach, Pauline texts have the unfortunate honor of establishing the language we use to talk about our faith. I say unfortunate because it is impossible to hear these texts without the weight of the entire history of interpretation of …
Smooching
I want to live in the world our Psalmist describes: one where justice and peace embrace. Actually, they are doing more than embracing. As other translations reveal: they are smooching.
Our passage this week is a prime instance of how Hebrew verbs can be vague on time and tense. So it is unclear. Have love and faithfulness just met, are they meeting, or will they meet soon? Likewise, have justice and peace kissed, or is it a kiss that they (and we) are still anticipating?
River Grit and Wounded Gait
Who hasn’t passed a night wrestling and been unclear as to an adversary’s true identity? Anxiety, fear, our false self or shadow-side—these all make fierce opponents. The voices of others infect our head and trouble us. Deep yearnings for wholeness or nagging needs for changes— these are visitors easier to ignore by daylight. Demon, angel, ego, — who hasn’t prayed to God for clarity after a night like Jacob’s? Who among us has not tasted river bank grit in your mouth and pleaded for a blessing as the morning dawns— grasping for some good come out of a night of struggle.
Family Drama
Wednesday July 20 One of the joys of following the lectionary is that it often confronts us with difficult passages. This week we are reading the story of Laban and Jacob, in which Jacob works for the hand of Rachel, but gets Leah instead (Genesis 29:15-28). Unfortunately, the lectionary also sanitizes the text, presenting only a small portion of the …