18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, RCL)

Human parents, even good ones, have limits. God does not.

The dams on the Klamath River are coming down. Their removal reflects a very different theology than their construction.

Have you ever heard of an egregore?

The lilies of the field don’t have student loans.

The ancient wisdom text urges us to find joy in the limits of the present moment.

How would the women of Colossae have responded to chapter 3? 

Baptism is about dying with Christ. Why don't more churches talk about this?

This is a funny story. We laugh. But we're laughing at ourselves.

The beloved song can contain God’s glory no more than the scripture it’s based on.

I’ve been trying to follow Thomas Keating’s advice: learn to be silent with God.

Fun fact: when Paul tells his readers in Colossae to "put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry)," it's an example of a common ancient rhetorical device called a "vice list." (This is not actually fun, but bear with me.)

Paul says the hidden life is a moral one, putting off vices like a set of dirty old clothes.

A poor person looking up at my residence could mistake it for one of the barns belonging to the rich man Jesus talked about—the one who didn't know his soul was buried beneath all that corn and sorghum.

I've spent the last few months in guilty inactivity. I've discovered that the world doesn't seem to need me to improve it.

The Prodigal Son is often read to mean that God loves sinners, whereas the Jews thought God only loved the righteous. This makes no sense.