Not in our stars, but in ourselves

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temptationOur psalm today cries out, “Have mercy on me Lord, for I have sinned.” Maybe a better petition would be, “Have mercy on me Lord, for I am sorely tempted.”  Sin can be but a moment when one gives in, but then one knows the battle is over, but the war is not lost. There is forgiveness and at least the battle is over. Not so with temptation. It was more life the never-ending, deadly trench warfare of World War I: constant struggle, continuous causalities, and wondering “why” and “where are the reinforcements.” It seems as though it never stops. “Have mercy on me Lord, for I am sorely tempted.” Such is temptation. Continue reading →

We are Catholic

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safrica-catholicJohn Allen, Boston Globe, writing about “Catholicism growing in the heart of Muslim World,” has insight that is essential to North Americans taking on the broader vision of what it means to be Catholic

“The typical Christian in the world today isn’t a middle-class white male in Dubuque pulling up to church in his Lincoln Continental. She is an impoverished black mother of four in Nigeria, or a Dalit grandmother in India, or an exploited Filipina maid in Saudi Arabia. They often face hardships that are hard for most American Christians, accustomed to material comfort and lacking any real experience of religious persecution, to fathom. Until you get that, you won’t see the full story of Christianity in this era.”

Discipleship’s anchor: the Word of God

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Command these stones… Jesus is challenged to show that he qualifies as Messiah by change the stones into loaves of bread. In the Lukan version (Lk 4:3) the challenge is “stone” and “load.” Without entering the argument of whose version is more the original, what is clear is that the stones/loaves are a challenge to satisfy more than just Jesus’ hunger.  Jesus is tempted to use his divine power for his own advantage to accomplish God’s will rather than to trust in his Father’s plan.

After all, the Son of God has no need to be hungry and it is beneath the dignity of such an exalted figure to suffer so. Jesus has the power to satisfy physical need by miraculous means. Later miracles prove this was true (14:15–21; 15:32–38). Jesus recognized in his hunger an experience designed by God to teach him the lesson of Deuteronomy 8:3: “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” The contrast is paradoxical – God’s word does not fill the stomach, but it is really a question of the ground upon which one is anchored. Continue reading →

Discipleship’s anchor: temptation

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The Testing/Tempting in the Dessert. It is helpful to consider this pericope as being “both-and:”  Jesus is tested by his heavenly Father so that Jesus knows what is “in his heart” at the same time Jesus is tempted by Satan to be other than fully obedient to God.  We should note that Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted/tested (v. 1). This is a softening of Mark’s account where the Spirit “throws Jesus out” into the wilderness (Mk 1:12). Lest there be any concern, as Boring (163) notes: “… [Jesus’] submission to temptation is not an accident or a matter of being victimized by demonic power, but is part of his obedience to God.” Continue reading →

Discipleship’s Anchor: context

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Matthew 4:1-11  1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. 3 The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” 4 He said in reply, “It is written: ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you and ‘with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’” 8 Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, 9 and he said to him, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.” 10 At this, Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan! It is written: ‘The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.’” 11 Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.

Context  From the 4th Sunday to the 9th Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Sunday gospels include most of the “Sermon on the Mount” (Mt 5:1-7:29)[1]  On the first Sunday in Lent, the traditional reading reverts to several chapter earlier – Mt 4 – to consider “the tempting of Christ in the desert.”

Continue reading →

Prepare, Practice, and Pray

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imperfectI have a pop quiz for you. No, really.. a bible quiz. What was the final verse of last week’s gospel?

It was just last week, we heard Jesus not only tell us what is possible – but we were commanded to strive for that very possibility: “…be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). Be perfect, telios, the Greek word which speaks of wholeness, a completeness, a certain end point, goal or destiny that is ours. “…be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Our destiny, our divine calling – a project for this lifetime. A project that with the grace of God is ours in the here and now – and forever. A project we have already encountered, however briefly, already. Continue reading →

Being Transformed

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Lent-give-up-wordleSo… “what are you giving up for Lent?”  Isn’t that always the question?  As if that is the reason for the season.  Growing up, everything I remember about Lent circled around the acts of self-denial – what food, entertainment, or habit one would give up and how hard it was to deny oneself of that thing.  It was not always made clear that the denial was meant to help one think about God and Christ’s sacrifice. Continue reading →

The One Thing Christians Should Stop Saying

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I am grateful for the parishioner who sent me the link and for these thoughts so nicely expressed.

theaccidentalmissionary's avatarThe Accidental Missionary

*Writers note:  After reading your comments, I have been moved to revise the following piece.  In a post where the main point is to encourage others to be aware of how our choice of words can get in the way of conveying our true intent, I realize the irony that my choosing to refer to my lack of understanding of God’s purpose as “dumb luck” caused some folks to miss the meaning of the post itself.  Silly me.  While people may still disagree, I think this slightly revised version better captures my honest intent.

I was on the phone with a good friend the other day.  After covering important topics, like disparaging each other’s mothers and retelling semi-factual tales from our college days, our conversation turned to the mundane.

“So, how’s work going?” he asked.

For those of you who don’t know, I make money by teaching leadership skills and…

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Anxious or Trust: what do you seek?

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Mt-6-24-wordwordle-cGod provides the basics  This theme is important to the passage (vv. 25-26, 28-30). Jesus twice uses a standard type of Jewish argument traditionally called qal wahomer – “how much more?” (vv. 26, 30). If God cares for birds and for perishable flowers, how much more for his own beloved children?

The objects of our anxiety, food and drink, are to be seen as less important than the life and the body which they supply, and subsequent verses will draw out the moral that, since God provides the latter, he can be trusted for the former. If God sustains life and protects the bodies of those who serve him, they should not complain if he provides for those things without giving a nod to the symbols of status that the culture ordains. If God provides for the birds and flowers, how much more will he provide for his children? Continue reading →