Today, we share a Facebook Post (and highlights of an ongoing strand from Friday, Sept 12) from Dr. Wes Howard-Brook, former attorney and, currently, a professor of Theology & Scripture at Seattle University. Social media has all sorts of issues, but sometimes it can serve as a really helpful forum for “overhearing” conversations about vital …
Continue reading Wes Howard-Brook on How Empire “Handles” Violence
By Wes Howard-Brook & Sue Ferguson Johnson, a commentary on this weekend’s Gospel text, re-posted from November 2016 There is nothing more radical than resurrection. From the time Daniel 12 apocalyptically announced that God raises the dead, the intellectual elite in Judea rejected it. Sophisticated skeptics have always scoffed at the notion that life extends …
Continue reading Resurrection: The Hope That Vindicates God’s Justice
By Wes Howard-Brook & Sue Ferguson Johnson, a commentary on this weekend’s Gospel text, re-posted from September 1, 2016 It is no mystery who Luke’s audience is in this week’s Gospel (14.25-33): “For which of you, intending to build a tower (Gk, purgon)…” (14.28). Clearly, this is not a building plan envisioned by landless peasants, …
By Wes Howard-Brook “Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.” (Deuteronomy 6.6-7) What “words” do we keep in our hearts this day? What …
By Wes Howard-Brook and Sue Ferguson Johnson, commentary on John 2:1-11, re-posted from January 2016 “On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee…” The rich beauty of this week’s gospel sets the stage for the journey into God and discipleship which follows. In his first public act in John’s gospel, Jesus …
By Wes Howard-Brook and Sue Ferguson Johnson, reposted from Advent 3 2017 Just north of Magdala in Galilee stand the cave-pocked cliffs of Mt. Arbel. Twice in a hundred years, Roman soldiers shot fire into the caves to destroy Israelites who refused to give in to imperial rule. The first occasion was the imposition of …
Seeking the True Joy of Advent Advent 3 Isaiah 35:1-10 Matthew 11: 2-11 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at?” Matt 11:7 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and …
Continue reading Wild Lectionary: The Desert Shall Rejoice and Blossom
By Wes Howard-Brook and Sue Ferguson Johnson *NOTE: this piece was originally posted to Radical Discipleship in October 2016. The final leg of the journey to Jerusalem begins with this week’s gospel (Lk 17.11-19). Alert readers, though, will note that Jesus and the disciples have not gotten very far. At the very beginning, Luke tells …
Proper 23(28) C Luke 17:8-11 Psalm 66:1-12 He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. (Luke 16.16) The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” (Luke 18.11) By Wes …
Continue reading Wild Lectionary: For What Do We Give Thanks?
By Wes Howard-Brook & Sue Ferguson Johnson (on Luke 14:25-33) *Note: this piece was originally posted to Radical Discipleship during the summer of 2016. It is no mystery who Luke’s audience is in this week’s Gospel (14.25-33): “For which of you, intending to build a tower (Gk, purgon)…” (14.28). Clearly, this is not a building …
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