Touchpoints on The Gospel (Page 9)

Touchpoints on The Gospel (Page 9)

When God Became Unhinged

Grace and peace from the Mystery in whom we live and move and have our being. Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us make a dwelling for you and Moses and Elijah.” Mark 9:2-6 In reading all the commentaries on this passage, there seems to be one point of agreement… The Transfiguration story is a hinge story. It is a transition story. It stands as a mid-point hinge in the Gospel of Mark, where Jesus now…

Religion’s Demon

Grace and peace from the Mystery in whom we live and move and have or being. What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth, have you come to destroy us?” Mark 1:21-28 Let’s get the answer to that question out of the way right off the bat. The answer is YES, that is exactly what the Christ has come to do to us. Does that answer surprise you? Why? For every empty tomb in your life, that tomb…

Resurrection, not Insurrection

And this is where the restoration of our country will begin. In us. In us no longer staying quiet in the face of economic, racial, and judicial inequality. In us being brought into God’s kingdom rather than us trying to bring God into our kingdoms, and justify our kingdoms.

Something Needs to be Said

Grace and Peace from the Mystery in whom we live and move and have our being. “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” Mark 1: 4-11 It’s a question of starting point. Where do you start in your journey of faith? What’s the basis for it all? John the Baptist and Jesus seem to have two different starting points. And we seem to like John’s the best. John’s starting point is about us doing something. It…

Mary Christmas

Grace and peace from the Mystery in whom we live and move and have our being. “Hail, favored one. The Lord is with you.”   And, “Your relative Elizabeth…has also conceived a son.” Luke 1: 26-38 Wow! What an incredible thing to hear. The Lord is with you. The Lord has found favor with you. Who wouldn’t want that?! But then, as Paul Harvey would say, there is the “Rest of the story.” “You Mary, are so favored by God, and…

I AM (not)

This is the SIN the Lamb of God takes away from the world – our trying to be or become THAT which we think we NEED to be. Because when you realize you are not the Messiah, you actually get your life back as a gift – to be lived – and not something you have to save.

Thieving Jesus

And maybe what we need to be bringing into this world is something less, not something more. And what I mean by that, is that maybe what we first need to bring to this world is a confrontation with our need for “more,” for accumulation, for consumption. To speak a word of subtraction rather than addition.

Visiting Jesus in Prison

Christ takes on the brokenness of the world. Christ becomes the brokenness of the world. So that we in our brokenness are not left alone or helpless. And now my brokenness and the brokenness of others is not a point of separation, but of unity, of healing and wholeness.

Who’s a Scaredy-Cat?

“He GAVE. He entrusts. He gives. This is who our God is. This is what our God does. He hangs on a cross and gives forgiveness. He comes back from the dead to those who denied and betrayed him and gives them his peace. This is who our God is. This is what our God does.”

Watch Out!

“Here is the promise. The kingdom has come and it is continuing to come. While it may seem that the time is delayed, perhaps if we were just more awake, we might see where the kingdom is breaking in, re-entering the darkness of every generation.”

Jesus Counts Your Blessings

“But as I reflect on the beatitudes this day, I begin to wonder if I’ve got some masks and costumes that run a little deeper than Halloween in my life.”