“They have no wine,” his mother said to the Son of God, when the cabernet ran out, at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, on the edge of the kingdom of God. But Jesus of Nazareth wasn’t buying it. “Woman,”…
Liquid modernity: Churchly challenges in 2017 and beyond
In liquid modern life there are no permanent bonds and any that we take up for a time must be tied loosely so that they can be untied again as quickly, and as effortlessly as possible, when circumstances change. Those…
A wind-up Jesus
The week before Christmas, I received a small package from minister-friends in eastern North Carolina. It contained the sage-looking, plastic-action figure pictured below. The enclosed card read: “A gift for you from two wise men in the East. Maybe you…
‘Be subject,’ but be careful
¨Let every person be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist…
No longer in-valid
Invalid: “One who is incapacitated by illness or disability” In-valid: “Null; Not legally or factually valid” “Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids…
The need for compassionate correctness
In the aftermath of the presidential election, the “N” word (a vicious reference to African-American human beings) is making a public comeback. In a Nov. 14 essay, the online journal, Fusion, documented multiple N-word postings, many related to schools, including…
‘Exsurge Domine’: Pursuing Re-formation
“Arise, O Lord (Exsurge Domine), and judge thy cause. A wild boar is loose in thy vineyard.” That’s how Pope Leo X introduced his denunciation of Martin Luther in a papal encyclical released 15 June 1520. The document condemned a…
‘Locker room banter’: Nightmare for the Religious Right
“You can’t endorse me … but I endorse you and what you are doing.” That memorable phrase, delivered by presidential candidate Ronald Reagan at the Religious Roundtable National Affairs Briefing in Dallas in August 1980, highlighted the public beginnings of…
At home in a foreign land
Last Sunday I taught a class at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., the second of a two-part conversation entitled, “Retelling the Jesus Story in a Post-Modern, Pluralistic, Post-Protestant-Privileged World: Who’s Listening?”The topic, sent in weeks earlier, was of…