The starting place for every good and faithful interpretation of Scripture must be the conviction that God is good. And if there is anything about how I am reading a particular text that makes it sound like that isn’t true – well, then I can be certain that I do not understand that passage yet.
How to Make Something Sacred
Is it possible that I resist treating anything as sacred because to do so would encroach on my freedom, my own self-assertion? I don’t want anything or anyone telling me, “No.” How dare anyone tell me how to sit or dress, or where I can or cannot go?! But it seems to me that the sacred can only exist where there is a boundary. Where something is off-limits. Where guardrails are in place that prevent us from desecrating the holy.
Wrestling with Jacob
We live in a time and a culture that seems especially tempted to see the unfairness and brutality of human existence as good reason to let go of God. And if we are honest, there are probably times when it feels like holding on is pointless, when we wonder if our struggle to keep our faith is even worth it. And to that experience, this story offers us a gift: May we be as stubborn as Jacob: refusing to let go, until we get a blessing.
We Need to Talk About Mary
Out of fear that Mary was getting too much credit for her role in salvation history, we decided to give her none. Among us, there must not even be a hint of devotion to Mary. In the end, we might not have thrown the baby out with the bathwater, but we do seem to have thrown out the baby’s mother. And in doing so, I think we’ve lost quite a bit.
From Prophet to Priest
Can we learn to stand WITH the people of God, even when they stand AGAINST us? Can we bring ourselves to ask God to forgive the Church, even when we have been rejected by it? Can we refuse to let go of the Church, even when it desperately wants to let go of us?
We Need Priests, Not Prophets
What if the work in front of us is not to inspire more individuals to be prophets? What if the task ahead of us is actually priestly work – to attend to the rituals, texts, and structures that gather and define the people of God?
Man is Not Made for the Bible
It is the task of the preacher is to ensure that the Bible exercises the right kind of authority in the lives of those gathered within the hearing of the Word.
Can Old News Be Good News?
Add this to the list of reasons preaching is such an impossible task. Can you tell the old, old story in a new way? Can you be both faithful and fresh? I think we must try.