A reflection on Genesis 29:15-28, the Old Testament lesson from the Revised Common Lectionary for July 24, 2011. I also have a reflection on the Gospel lesson of the same day. Like countless liars before him, and countless liars after him, Laban stood there and bold-faced-lied to Jacob. And, like countless victims throughout the ages, Jacob bore the full brunt of the deceit. Seven whole years of his life had been spent working to earn […]
Last summer my parish had an evening discussion group (wittily titled “Caffeinated Theology”) which looked at “The Kingdom Experiment,” by The House Studio. The concept was simple enough–each week you look at one of the beatitudes, and then choose an “experiment” through the rest of the week to explore living some aspect of the beatitude in question. I think the week was “blessed are the poor,” because for my experiment I chose sleeping on the […]
Genesis 25 moves quickly. If you lift your eyes from the page you just might miss a few decades. In less than fifteen verses Jacob and Esau go from zygotes to teenagers. And yet, not much changes in those verses, or in those years: Jacob and Esau are very different creatures in the womb and very different creatures outside of the womb. Like their forebears Cain and Abel, one is refined and the other is […]
Remember “Sleepless in Seattle?” It’s a story of romance – romance that didn’t begin over Facebook or Social Media – but over the radio. Jonah was wasn’t just dealing with his mother’s death, but his father’s depression. He wanted him to find someone…though he had to approve of her. He calls a radio show and spills his dad’s beans all over the country. One listener to the show, Annie, not only gets drawn in, but […]
The Akedah is one of those chapters of the Bible which reminds us all too well that we don't have a neat and tidy little religion that is country-club respectable in all ways at all times. Sometimes the story comes off the tracks. But, the story somehow finds it's way back onto the tracks. There is always the possibility of redemption.
I think it's helpful in this regard to not separate the Resurrection of Jesus and Coming of the Holy Spirit as two wholly separate and different things. They are two different things, but they have lots of overlap - and they are in a fuller sense two actions of the one-and-the-same sweeping act of God: God reconciling all things to Himself, God making all things new.
The Grand Story of God is the beautiful story of a God who not only created us out of the dust of the ground, made us in His holy image, and breathed his life into us - but it's also the story of a God who has pursued us to the ends of the earth from the beginning.
John, the author of the fourth Gospel, is being anything but subtle in the beginning of the fifth chapter. Jesus came near the plot of land that JACOB had given to Joseph. A well, was there – JACOB’s well. The woman who meets him there asks him if he thinks he’s greater than JACOB. Oh, and did I mention a well? Like the well where JACOB met his wife Rachel? The mother of Joseph. To […]
The version of the Creation in Genesis chapter 1, as we know, shows a remarkably ordered world, with an unfolding plan of creation that springs forth from the words of our Creator God. There is a place for everything, and everything is in it’s place. The creation story in Genesis chapters 2 and 3 is a little different. God is still creator, but he’s hands-on, digging in the earth and collaborating with others in the […]
Kenda Creasy Dean’s book “Almost Christian” should send shivers down the spine of any person in America (and beyond) who cares about the Christian faith. Drawing from the data of the National Study on Youth and Religion (NYSR) Dean says that America’s youth aren’t opposed to Christianity and the Church at all. In fact they have fond feelings for it. But, that’s because they think that Christianity is about 1) being nice and 2) feeling […]