13th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, RCL)

In metro areas today, park benches are becoming an endangered species.

What does freedom in Christ taste like?

No one who [fill in the blank] is fit for the kingdom. Ouch.

To say creation is ex nihilo is to say that divine love is the only power at work in the creation of everything.

Blessed are those who read this wise and lovely book.

The most interesting part of "Avengers: Endgame" is the theme of salvation.

Maybe Jesus’ words aren’t about me, my family, or my sacrifices. Maybe they’re about him.

Luther said we can judge a tree by its fruit. He never said doing so would be easy.

Most social problems are rooted in the failure of the strong to be gentle with others.

I move a lot. So did Jesus and the disciples.

The invitation follow me is a common refrain in the ministry of Jesus. In our Gospel text for this week, the call to follow is intensified. Jesus has now “set his face toward Jerusalem,” and his response to someone who wants to follow him is an extreme one.

Jesus setting his face to Jerusalem marks a shift: the text mentions it three times. There is a boldness and immovable attention to the assignment.

Every time I read Psalm 16, I think about how an individual's life is in large measure the sum total of the influence of others.

On Shrove Tuesday 2010, I ate my last piece of golden, delicious sausage while listening to “When the Saints Go Marching In.” A Lenten practice of consuming no meat unfolded, followed by a turkey-less Thanksgiving, and an Advent with rice and beans.

There were two reasons for my going cold turkey as a vegetarian: survival in an interfaith marriage to a devout Hindu, and a spiritual exploration of what it might mean to practice nonviolence and environmental sustainability as a Christian vegetarian.

In two pages, you go from a simple devotional habit to being sucked into the vortex of global power plays. You must be reading Brueggemann.

Looks like Jesus the Homeless is coming to Chicago. Erica Demarest reports that the local Catholic Charities office plans to put up one of Timothy Schmalz's sculptures—which depict an unkempt Jesus, with stigmata, sleeping on a park bench—this spring.

Weekend Edition did a segment Sunday on the sculpture at St. Alban's Episcopal in Davidson, North Carolina. Apparently some locals aren't fans.

It's easy to love Mr. C. It's not as easy to love Mrs. M., and it’s stone-cold not easy to love that guy down the street.

Growing up, I watched Saturday morning television cartoons in which a character was making a decision. On one shoulder an angel hovered, saying, "Do the right thing!" But on the other shoulder perched a devil urging the character to do the wrong thing. You already know what happened: as the angel looked increasingly anxious, the cartoon character chose to do the wrong thing.

Paul's Galatians didn't watch TV cartoons, but they probably had a similar model of decision making.