Today’s daily lectionary reading includes Deuteronomy 7.12-16. At first blush it is a frightening expression of God’s vengeance. The term in v. 16, unfortunately translated in the NRSV as “ordinances” and in other versions “laws,” is actually a legal term for “judgments.” The people are called to pay attention or heed God’s judgments, presumably against … Continue reading “BlogPost: Lenten Journal – Day 2”
Category: arrogance
We Are Called Not to be Perfect… #ga221 #pcusa
The Rev. Theresa Cho, associate pastor at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in San Francisco and one of the most creative pastors I know who “gets it” when it comes to sharing the gospel with people of all ages, presented yesterday at the 221st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) for the Committee to Review … Continue reading “We Are Called Not to be Perfect… #ga221 #pcusa”
The Upside Down World of God
Both our Hebrew and Greek scriptures hold a vision of the kingdom of God where the rich and powerful are knocked down off their pedestals of arrogance and pride, and the poor and marginalized are lifted up out of the pits of despair, and all people are called to live in harmony and at least … Continue reading “The Upside Down World of God”
Church in the World Today
In America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity (2005), Robert Wuthnow, an American sociologist, argues that we have possibly been going about these ecumenical (inter-Christian) and inter-faith dialogues all wrong. He writes that we have been so focused on theology (understandings about God) that we have completely missed the opportunities to simply be in relationship, … Continue reading “Church in the World Today”
The values that hold us together?
A new/old journey has begun/continued, not unlike the modernist/orthodox journey of the early 20th century with Reinhold Niebuhr’s realist orthodoxy (shedding the utopian vision of earlier evangelicals but clinging to the pillars of evangelical fundamentals). In my D.Min. studies I am taking a class with the snarky title: “Why Church Matters in an Age of … Continue reading “The values that hold us together?”