Entangled States

When we say Jesus is Lord, or that Christ is the King, we’re making a deep theological claim. Essentially, we’re rejecting all the secular structures of the World, and because of how Jesus comes to his Lordship, saying that the existing structures are fundamentally flawed and unjust. But Christ’s Kingship isn’t just about a sustained critique of other’s leadership or use of power. St. Paul sees the Holy Spirit working even now in the World […]

We are nearly to the end of the liturgical year. The whole of the Church Calendar is meant to be a tool for teaching about the Christian life and faith. We start the year in Advent though, not Christmas, the officially Advent is supposed to be about the triumphant return of Lord Jesus and our longing and our hoping that day will come quickly. In Christmas we remember the story of Jesus’ first coming and […]

We are in the midst of the eight days of the celebration of the Feast of All Saints. Almost everyday of the year we remember the story of the great souls that have lived among us, marking the date of the death, because it is the day they are born into the full reality of the Kingdon of God. But there are many more people who have lived heroic lives of faith than the hundreds […]

This is the last interaction Jesus has with an outsider (who repents!) before he enters Jerusalem where he is rejected. This particular story has many echoes of the previous ones, Jesus calling Matthew the Tax Collector and the healing of the blind man who called out in spite of the crowds attempt to silence him. Jesus seeks the outsider who seeks him – that’s clear in these accounts, particularly in the story of the healing […]

We all have met people who are sure that they are doing God’s will. We have met people who are living lives that inspire others with their public goodness. And we’ve met people who are ashamed of and afraid of God. People who hear God’s voice as one filled with judgement and rejection. People who are in the church and people who won’t come to church. (Some of each of the previous categories are in […]

At first glance, this seems somewhat silly. God is being broadly compared to a judge who finally is badgered into giving an old woman justice. As one of the commentators on this passage points out, we all sort of know this woman – people like her. A person, a man, or a woman who has no family, no friends, no social network of support. A person who is certain they have been wronged and who […]

Such moments are pretty common frankly. To be honest, that’s incredibly hard for us. We want to believe that we can control our fate. We can beat the odds. Not only that, but we can figure out a way to reverse the moment in which we find ourselves. And to be extra clear, that’s not just about us as a community. It’s true for us as individuals. We want to believe that we can be […]

If we are unable to forgive others, then we have no real understanding of what God is doing for us. And if we do not recognize that grace of God for us, then we can not truly receive it. As we pray every time we say the Lord’s Prayer; “forgive us our sins (in the same way) we forgive those who sin against us. It’s a conditional statement. Did you happen to notice that before? […]

This week’s parable from St. Luke’s Gospel follows directly in the text from the parable we heard last week, the parable of the dishonest steward. Do you remember that one? There was a well-off manager of a rich man’s estates. He was rich because he’d been cooking the estate books and skimming off the top. When he was found out, he came up with a scheme to let his boss’s partners pay off their outstanding […]