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One of the things I’ve been nudged back toward is actually reading the Bible – not just the daily mass readings, which are sort of a highlight reel of the whole thing – but going through the New Testament in order. The fact that I’m only on Matthew 11 shows that this new resolution is…
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Hey, you know how you can pass the same place a zillion times and on the zillion-and-first time, you notice something that was always there but you never really saw before? Today’s gospel is Matthew 9:18-26 – Jesus brings back to life a girl who died (with another story in the middle that inspired a…
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My Facebook sermon for the week (not that I preach, except about getting your expense reports and timesheets done on time. And cleaning up the kitchen, to some family members.): “Fun is Good.” I’ve been thinking a lot about an old boss of mine, Mike Veeck, lately. In fact, I had a dream last night…
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You know, it would be nice if we could just explain it away. Like, “it’s not ‘money is the root of all evil’ but ‘the love of money is the root of all evil.” That sort of clarification can help us sleep at night. (By the way, that’s Paul in 1 Timothy.) James doesn’t give…
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Which heresy are American Christians more prone to these days? Which one are you personally more susceptible to? If there is a verse from James that people know, it’s probably this one: “But be doers of the word and not hearers who deceive themselves.” (1:22) (Though we substitute “only” for that last phrase.) It’s in…
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Last post on Acts. I wasn’t going to write anything, but there are a couple of kind of funny vignettes in the last couple chapters and one thing that made me think. One of my friends made the charge that Paul is basically a…well, I won’t use the word he used, but a not-nice person.…
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So even the first chapter of Acts has a couple funny parts. But first a little scene-setting: Luke and Acts are basically a pair. Same author, same audience, same challenges. Probably written about 50 years after Jesus died. Like the other gospels, not written to document facts like modern history but to make an argument…
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So there’s no great spiritual lesson in this, but Acts 20:7-12 will make you appreciate even the most long-winded preacher you know. Paul is on a farewell tour, and on his last night in Troas the community of believers gathers in an upper room for a final dinner (which some scholars point to as an…
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The homestretch of Acts isn’t all that funny, nor does it strike me as all that inspiring. But it could be because it’s so relevant. George Will once called football the marriage of the two worst American vices: violence punctuated by committee meetings. From the point at which Paul arrives in Jerusalem in Acts, the…
