We’ve talked in the past about riddles. I think my favorite is: The poor have it. The rich need it. If you eat it you die. What is it? As we all know, riddles work by play on words; by layers of double meaning or ambiguity understood by the speaker but not revealed to the hearer. […]
In the beginning, Genesis describes a God who was mysteriously wonderful, creative, loving, strong, wise, present, personal, and generous. When the son and daughter of his likeness opened the one gift marked “Do Not Open”— only to suddenly feel as if they had been locked out of the house without their clothes on— he came […]
It’s been called the first hint of the Gospel. God says to the Serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Reading our Story backward, we know that it was the Great Accuser who shows […]
Those of us who have seen and felt the horrific impact of Mel Gibson’s 2004 “The Passion of the Christ” may recall the dark opening scene of Jesus groaning in the Garden of Gethsemane; the Satanic whisper that One cannot bear the sins of all; the troubling image of a snake slithering out from beneath […]
Down through history, and all over the world, thanksgiving festivals have given communities a chance to thank the God or gods who gave them another harvest. Such celebrations have been more than expressions of gratefulness for personal health, wealth, marriage, children, and happiness. They have been opportunities for neighbors to celebrate together their shared good […]
Over the last few months, I’ve returned occasionally to read a few more pages in The Ragamuffin Gospel. For some reason, I have not found it to be one of those books that I can’t put down… Written in 1990 by Brennan Manning, it reflects the findings of a Franciscan Priest who discovered in his own […]
Earlier this week a few short words from the 131st Psalm caught my attention. The songwriter seems to have found a way to calm his mind about the kind of questions that could drive us mad. He writes, LORD, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I don’t concern myself with matters too great […]
My guess is that most of us have been around long enough to hear questions asked either to avoid or find answers. For example, If the law of God is written on our hearts, as Paul says, why do we need the Scriptures of Moses or Jesus? Or, if all law is fulfilled in one, […]
In the last post I mentioned a couple of books that take up the question of why the best news the world has ever heard is so often heard as bad news. In Simply Good News, author N.T. Wright considers some important questions like— Why would we refer to information that’s been around for thousands […]
Words spoken or written have a backstory. So does everyone and everything. Without some understanding of what caused an event, or where a person has come from, it’s hard to make much sense of anything or anybody. That’s not to imply that anyone can collect all of the data, DNA, or background information that we […]
