Romans

Exodus 19:2–8a; Psalm 100; Romans 5:1–8; Matthew 9:35–10:8

Honestly, it seems like our flesh has a massive design flaw.

Honestly, it seems like our flesh has a massive design flaw.

I mostly agree with Jeffrey Weiss about prayer. I think St. Paul would too.

I mostly agree with Jeffrey Weiss about prayer. I think St. Paul would too.

Romans 8:6–11; John 11:1–45

Romans 8:6–11; John 11:1–45

Faced with someone trying to deny me shelter from the rain, I thought, are you kidding?

The gig seemed fairly routine. Then I saw the parrots.

An insight I gleaned from Ernest Hemingway rings true for the mainline church today.

Encounters with God happen, and they are known by their liberating effects. How can confirmation class support such encounters?

Lutherans are trained to hear the scriptures as proclaiming either law or gospel. By "law" they mean not passages from the Old Testament but all of the Bible's bad news: the sins we commit, the misery we experience, the sorrows we inflict on one another, the death we anticipate, the distance from God that diminishes our lives. By "gospel" they mean not the final reading on Sunday morning but the good news of the mercy given by a loving God, wherever in the Bible it is proclaimed.

Lutherans are trained to hear the scriptures as proclaiming either law or gospel. By "law" they mean not passages from the Old Testament but all of the Bible's bad news: the sins we commit, the misery we experience, the sorrows we inflict on one another, the death we anticipate, the distance from God that diminishes our lives. By "gospel" they mean not the final reading on Sunday morning but the good news of the mercy given by a loving God, wherever in the Bible it is proclaimed.

When we are overwhelmed by our daily struggles, when we get weary because of the dehumanization that results from hatred and greed, Proverbs 8 and Psalm 8 remind us how God conceives of us as human beings crowned with glory and honor.

And what would happen if we didn't?

And what would happen if we didn't?

And what would happen if we didn't?

And what would happen if we didn't?

This Sunday's passage from Paul's letter to the Christians in Rome seems to be an example of Year C's theological focus on those who are living in a state of alienation from Jesus Christ and the church. Yet when I think about rebuilding the bridges of love, trust, and belonging in contemporary Christian community, Paul isn't the first person who comes to mind.