A woman complained to her psychiatrist that she as constantly itching. Curiously, the itching seemed to be especially bothersome when she was in church. “Why do I itch all the time?” she asked. IN due course, the psychiatrist became aware of the woman’s deep-rooted...
When Walter Brueggemann taught at Columbia Theological Seminary (1986-2003), he once gave his first year students an assignment. They were instructed to read the writings of British theologian and missiologist Lesslie Newbigin, and to write a essay where the student...
Certain writers I can only read in small doses, not because they are difficult to process but because they are so addictive that if I don’t break away from their spell I’ll start sounding like them. Scottish Jesuit priest Gerard “Gerry” William Hughes (1924-2014). His...
Here’s the idea for a second sermon that seeks to help our people understand the theological differences between the three stages of faith: justification, sanctification, and glorification. I am thinking of these three referents for each one of the “tions”:...
God gave Abram a calling to leave Haran, step into the unknown, and “father” a people. At age 99, God called Abram to the higher calling of becoming Abraham, to be a “high father,” the father of many generations who would “bless all peoples of the earth” (Gen12:2-3)....
One sermon for 14 August 2016 is “Keep on Walking,” an ancient Jewish reframing of the story of the Red Sea Crossing that is very different from the Hollywood version of the story. I did not have time in the sermon (it came with one additional reflection on the...
