The third lecture in a series given by Walter Brueggemann in a Canadian Anglican church is entitled “New Orientation: Faith as Gift and as Impossibility.” This lecture concludes Brueggemann’s presentation of the Psalms from the perspective of Orientation, Disorientation, and New Orientation. He ends his lecture series with this definition… Continue reading
(In a sermon on this blog I wrote about joy and how it differs from contentment, happiness, and pleasure. That sermon is entitled “John 15:1-11 Rooted in Joy.” I would ask the reader to read that sermon first to appreciate what follows below. In this article, I will look at… Continue reading
I would suggest for any age, and especially for our own time, trusting that love will win, justice will prevail, compassion will heal, and reconciliation will be complete and lasting is absolutely necessary if we are to know joy and have the energy and inspiration to cherish this world and work for those things which make for peace. Continue reading
The third Sunday of Advent often focuses on joy. Laughter motivated by unadulterated joy can indeed be the hand of God on the shoulder of a troubled world. Such laughter is a gift from God, a gift that we need in a world of terrorism and violence, estrangement and bigotry, greed and lies. Continue reading
Our term “gospel” comes from the Anglo-Saxon words for “glad tidings.” The Greek term in the New Testament for gospel literally means the “good news” which comes to people announcing a significant and most happy event. Roman emperors used the term in their imperial propaganda to announce all the good… Continue reading
The most valuable things in life are free. They are gifts from God to be received, celebrated, lived, and shared. They cannot be bought, earned, or bartered. They come as gifts, or they do not come at all. At this time of the year, we look to those gifts traditionally… Continue reading
At a dude ranch out West where city-slickers would come to play at being cowboys for a week at a time, the welcoming speech was always the same: “For you dudes who have never ridden a horse, we have some good news. We have some horses here that have never… Continue reading
“Babette’s Feast” is a charming movie based on Isak Denisson’s (penname for Karen Blix) story with the name title. The film is about a French woman named Babette who became the cook for two elderly sisters on the coast of Denmark. Babette was a refugee from France during a political… Continue reading
Perhaps the title of this sermon seems inappropriate to you—inappropriate for two reasons. First, these two words—joy and repentance—don’t seem to go together, do they? I mean, when we think of joy, the word “repentance” simply doesn’t come to mind. Secondly, we usually don’t associate repentance with Advent. Today, Advent,… Continue reading
These words from Genesis are very familiar to us. They have been read from outer space by astronauts as they circled the earth. Perhaps these words are too familiar. When anything is too familiar, we have a tendency to take it for granted. It ceases to amaze us. Scholars tell… Continue reading
