Category: Theological Animation

Risky Midrash: The Jubilee Pertains to Our Enemies Too

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NaamanBy Ched Myers, for the 3rd Sunday of  Epiphany (Jan 24, 2016: Luke 4:22-30)

Note: This is part of a series of Ched’s occasional comments on the Lukan gospel readings from the Revised Common Lectionary during year C, 2016.

The audience reaction to Jesus’ inaugural sermon in Nazareth is somewhat ambiguous (4:22). Though they “witness to him” (the Gk emarturoun with the dative is usually positive), they also “wonder” about him (ethaumazon, which can connote surprise in a negative sense; see Lk 11:38), no doubt skeptical about how such eloquence can come from a humble construction worker’s son. This explains Jesus’ immediate move to the defensive, then quickly to the offensive. Continue reading “Risky Midrash: The Jubilee Pertains to Our Enemies Too” →

Messianism Against Christology

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MessianismBy Tommy Airey

…the undercurrent of a conflict between lifeways haunts the text.
Jim Perkinson, Messianism Against Christology (2014)

*Note: an abridged version of this review was published in the December 2015 issue of Sojourners Magazine

Growing up in the conservative white suburban Evangelical Christian tradition of North America, nothing was more important than the Bible & Jesus. Indeed, is there really anything else? Yet, many like me have grown into adulthood and out of Evangelicalism, not because the Bible & Jesus are no longer important, but because the Bible Answer Men have used their interpretations to justify privilege all over the globe. Continue reading “Messianism Against Christology” →

The Power of Prayer: Christian Witnesses at Guantanamo

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23226554212_b10f208352_o.jpgBy Frida Berrigan. Reprinted from Sojourners Magazine.

“Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world,have mercy on us
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, grant us peace.”

Mohammed Ahmad Said al Edah is a 52- or 53-year-old citizen of Yemen. As of Nov. 16, 2015, he has been held at Guantánamo for 13 years and 10 months. As of January 2010, the Guantánamo Review Task Force had recommended him for transfer to Yemen provided that certain security conditions were met. Continue reading “The Power of Prayer: Christian Witnesses at Guantanamo” →

The Ultimate Rite of Reversal

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Jay Beck

From Jay Beck of the Carnival de Resistance:

Historically, Carnival had its origins in the traditional topsy-turvydom of the medieval Christmas season, which in turn was grounded in the doctrine of the Incarnation and expressed in Mary’s words in the Magnificat: “He has put down the mighty from their seat and raised up the humble and meek. He has fed the poor with good things and sent the rich empty away” (Luke 1:52-53). Mary rejoices in a God who overturns privilege and favors the poor and the hungry. The church, whether Catholic, Presbyterian, or Baptist, has too often been supported by and sided with the the rich and the well-fed. If we aren’t rich ourselves, we long to be. There have been wonderful exceptions: the early desert fathers, St. Francis of Assissi, Gustavo Gutierrez and Dorothy Day to name just four. There are many others.
Continue reading “The Ultimate Rite of Reversal” →

Ongoing Direct Encounter

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Jesus in TempleBy Wes Howard-Brook and Sue Ferguson Johnson, commentary on readings for the First Sunday after Christmas

Note: This is part of a series of Wes & Sue’s occasional comments on the Lukan gospel readings from the Revised Common Lectionary during year C, 2015-16.

Christmas carols continue to echo around and within us, but Sunday’s Gospel from Luke has Jesus already nearly grown. Only Luke provides any glimpse of Jesus’ childhood. This tantalizing scene, though, offers many hints for how the adult Jesus will subvert both the expectations of his Roman audience and of those hearers who, so far, may be expecting Jesus to become a warrior “messiah like David” (1.32, 69; 2.11).
Continue reading “Ongoing Direct Encounter” →

I AM Waiting

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lawrenceby Lawrence Ferlinghetti

I am waiting for my case to come up
and I am waiting for a rebirth of wonder
and I am waiting for someone to really discover America and wail
and I am waiting for the American Eagle to really spread its wings
and straighten up and fly right
and I am waiting for the Age of Anxiety to drop dead
and I am waiting for the war to be fought which will make the world safe for anarchy
and I am waiting for the final withering away of all governments
and I am perpetually awaiting a rebirth of wonder Continue reading “I AM Waiting” →

Magnificat: Poor Women’s Voices Liberated

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MyersMagnificatBy Ched Myers, for the 4th Sunday in Advent (Luke 1:39-55)

Note: This is part of a series of Ched’s occasional comments on the Lukan gospel readings from the Revised Common Lectionary during year C, 2015-16.

Luke 1 is the prolegomenon to the nativity story, and is structured around the stories of two women who, for radically different reasons, cannot conceive. In a nutshell, Elizabeth is too old, and Mary is too young. Their stories are narrated in staggered parallel:

  • Annunciation to Elizabeth (1:5-25) Annunciation to Mary (1:26-38)
  • Elizabeth’s Response (1:41-45) Mary’s Response (1:46-55)
  • John’s birth (1:57-66) Jesus’ birth (2:1-20)

Continue reading “Magnificat: Poor Women’s Voices Liberated” →

These Long Advent Nights

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By Tommy Airey, an Advent Communion Meditation from Detroit

And maybe this is what heroism looks like nowadays: occasionally high-profile heroism in public but mostly just painstaking mastery of arcane policy, stubborn perseverance year after year for a cause, empathy with those who remain unseen and outrage channeled into dedication.
Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark (2004)

About 40-50 years after the death of Jesus, Luke’s Gospel, the story of Jesus the suffering servant, was read in its entirety in small Christian communities all over the Roman Empire. Out loud. It would take about 90 minutes to two hours. About the length of one of our movies.
Continue reading “These Long Advent Nights” →