Monthly Archives: March 2015

As personal as it gets

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Giotto_Lower_Church_Assisi_Crucifixion_01“The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their [ancestors]..for they broke my covenant, …this is the covenant that I will make…I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jer 31)

Way back in the day, before this life as a Franciscan, I was helping out with a teen ministry program at my parish. I will always remember one comment a young women made – the topic is not relevant (and not so well remembered) – but her last words stuck with me: “It’s not like I have a contract with God or anything.” Continue reading →

How Will You Belong? The Stranger at Our Doors

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Welcome-StrangersLast week in this column I mused about the connections of being a welcoming community and hospitality. As part of that musing, I wondered about the distinction between entertaining and hospitality, surmising that it perhaps depends on your role model and the source of your ideas about hospitality. If the model is from Martha Stewart, Rachael Ray, and Southern Living Magazine – then perhaps “entertaining” is a better description. As a church of believing Christians, it would be best to look to Jesus for models of hospitality. Continue reading →

The hour: a reflection

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Giotto_Lower_Church_Assisi_Crucifixion_01Again, I find O’Day’s insights thoughtful and to the point, so again, I offer her words as a …. A Final Reflection  (Gail O’Day, 713-15)

John 12:20–36 is the most concentrated collection of sayings on the death of Jesus in the Gospel of John and, therefore, provides the interpreter with an appropriate place to reflect on the meaning of the death of Jesus in this Gospel. Theological inquiry about Jesus’ death and its soteriological [things relating to salvation] efficacy is most frequently identified as “atonement theology.” Before looking at the Johannine understanding of the death of Jesus, it will be helpful to review the theologies of atonement that have shaped and continue to shape the life of the church. Continue reading →

The hour: misunderstood

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Giotto_Lower_Church_Assisi_Crucifixion_0129 The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours.

The Gospel according to John is replete with revelation being misunderstood. Nicodemus misses the point in his talk with Jesus, as do many others in their encounter with the Messiah. Perhaps the same is true of the crowds present. There opinions of the sound being thunder or the voice of an angel is headed in the right direction. Thunder was a common religious symbol for the voice of God (e.g., Exod 4:23; Ps 29:3–9), and angels were traditionally understood as God’s messengers (e.g., Gen 16:7; 18:2–8; 19:1; Luke 1:11, 26; 2:9). The crowd’s hearing the voice of God as either thunder or an angel’s voice suggests that the crowd recognized that they were witnesses to an epiphany, some revelation of the divine, but that they missed the point: they were witnesses to the unmediated presence of God in God’s relationship to Jesus. His words in v. 30 underscore that this is indeed what the crowd has missed. Continue reading →

The hour: a grain of wheat

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Giotto_Lower_Church_Assisi_Crucifixion_01 24 Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me. Continue reading →

The hour: now

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Giotto_Lower_Church_Assisi_Crucifixion_01The introduction of a new group of people (some Greeks) indicates a new narrative and thrust of the gospel message. Anyone could “see” Jesus he was in the Temple precincts. I think it is a given that the Greeks wanted more. Even if their desire to “see” Jesus doesn’t mean “become a follower,” their presence relates to Jesus’ statement in v. 32, “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.” It should be notes there is a variant reading of “all things” (panta) in many ancient Greek manuscripts rather than “all people” (pantas).That being said, the coming of the Greeks symbolizes the drawing of all people to Jesus. His hour has come. Continue reading →

The hour: coming to see

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Giotto_Lower_Church_Assisi_Crucifixion_01In John 11:47, as Jesus’ popularity grew, the Pharisee had asked of one another: what are we to do? The Pharisees themselves testify to the fulfillment of their fears in v.19: “So the Pharisees said to one another, “‘You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the whole world has gone after him.’” Their confession of vulnerability (“You see that you are gaining nothing”); their hyperbolic announcement that the “world” (kosmos) has gone after Jesus provides ironic testimony to the truth of Caiaphas’s prophecy: 50 nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish.” 51 He did not say this on his own, but since he was high priest for that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, 52 and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God. (John 11:50-02) Continue reading →

The hour: context

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Giotto_Lower_Church_Assisi_Crucifixion_0120 Now there were some Greeks among those who had come up to worship at the feast. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me. 27 “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours. 31 Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32 And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” 33 He said this indicating the kind of death he would die. Continue reading →

Like it or not

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God so loved1John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” It is perhaps the best known bible verse here in the United States. It appears on signs held up in crowd shots at major sporting events, it appeared in the midst of Tim Tebow’s eye black at a college national championship game, and it appears on bumper stickers. It’s everyone’s favorite Bible verse. But… I’ve wondered whether, if people thought about what this verse says for just a little longer than it takes to read a bumper sticker, it might just prove to be far less comforting and far more troubling. Continue reading →

How Will You Belong? Hospitality

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TheAnnunciationI most often hear our parish described as a “welcoming community – you all are so hospitable.” Certainly that is a good thing, but it does get me musing about things. Do we all mean the same thing when we speak about hospitality? “Hospitality” for several of our parishioners is a specialty branch of civil law. Hospitality law covers topics such as the impact of federal and state civil rights laws on the hospitality industry, contract law, including discussions of remedies for overbooking and a guest’s breach of the contract regarding a reservation, negligence, risk management, innkeeper rights, guest rights, and employment practices – and that is just dipping a big toe in the waters of hospitality law. Continue reading →