A mural from artist James Janknegt, painted for Christ the Reconciler retreat center in Elgin, TX:
A State of Freedom
From James Cone in A Black Theology of Liberation (1970):
Christian freedom is the recognition that Christ has conquered death…The free are the oppressed who say no to an oppressor, in spite of the threat of death, because God has said yes to them, thereby placing them in a state of freedom.
Witnesses to the Resurrection
Luke 24:1-12
On the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
A Good Friday Homily
By Tom Cornell, Co-founder of Catholic Peace Fellowship
After the Last Supper, Jesus and his companions walked across the Kedron Valley to Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives. If you visit Israel today, you will surely want to see the Mount of Olives where Jesus suffered his Agony in the Garden. You come to a little stream at the bottom of the valley on the way. The guide tells you, “This is the Kedron River.” You are surprised. It’s not much of a river now, just a little stream, not much more than a trickle. You can hop over it. It was broader then, the guide tells you. Jesus and the apostles took their sandals off to wade across. Imagine it. Continue reading “A Good Friday Homily”
The First Bible Study in the History of the Church
By Ched Myers
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. Because the Easter Sunday reading from Luke is long, so too is this reflection. It is abbreviated from a chapter entitled “Easter Faith and Empire: Recovering the Prophetic Tradition on the Emmaus Road,” in Getting On Message, edited by Peter Laarman, Beacon Press, 2006.
In the first century Pax Romana, Christians had the difficult and demanding task of discerning how to cling to a radical ethos of life—symbolized preeminently by their stubborn belief in the Resurrection of Jesus—while living under the chilling shadow of an imperial culture of domination and death. Today, in the twenty-first century Pax Americana, U.S. Christians are faced with the same challenge. Continue reading “The First Bible Study in the History of the Church”
The Towel Before The Tomb
By Tommy Airey
[Jesus] got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.
John 13:4
To invite people to look at, to wash, to care for our feet is to invite them to accept us as we are.
Wes Howard-Brook, John’s Gospel & The Renewal Of The Church (1997)
In each of the four canonical Gospels, Jesus is portrayed in terms of kenosis, or self-emptying. In none of the canonical Gospels is the scandal of the cross removed in favor of the divine glory.
Luke Timothy Johnson, The Real Jesus (1996)
For those just now tuning in, Western Christianity is in the midst of a massive intramural contest over what it means to follow Jesus. Fortunately & strategically, Holy Week re-calibrates us towards a creative & constructive imitation of Jesus’ life of service. If the various brands of Christianity (from evangelical to ecumenical, from Catholic to Charismatic, from fundamentalist to free thinking) can come together tomorrow and focus our respective energies & resources on acting out the Gospel script (washing one another’s wretched feet), we can realistically hope for a more compelling witness to our audacious claim that a redemptive Something pervades our existence.
Continue reading “The Towel Before The Tomb”
Thirsting for Justice
By Joyce Hollyday
Ho, everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you that have no money,
Come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
And your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Isaiah 55:1-2
I was in Detroit welcoming my new honorary grandson, Cedar, when a coalition of justice organizations convened a Water Crimes Tribunal. The tribunal brought charges against Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, and their accomplices. Their crimes include the infamous switch of the Flint water system to a river that poisoned city residents with bacteria and lead. Continue reading “Thirsting for Justice”
Not Altogether Lost
By Rabindranath TagoreI know that this life, missing its ripeness in
love, is not altogether lost.
I know that the flowers that fade in the dawn,
the streams that strayed in the desert, are not
altogether lost.
I know that whatever lags behind, in this life
laden with slowness, is not altogether lost.
I know that my dreams that are still
unfulfilled, and my melodies still unstuck, are
clinging to Your lute strings, and they are not
altogether lost.
Palm Sunday: Puppets and Peace Parades
By Bert Newton, Pasadena Mennonite Church
This year in Pasadena, Calif., we will hold our 14th annual Palm Sunday Peace Parade. Every year has a different theme. This year our theme is “Peace without Borders; Welcoming the Refugee.” Last year we called attention to the ecological crisis as well as to police shootings of unarmed black people. The year before that we addressed economic injustice and consumerism that drives war. We created a 12 foot Lady Wisdom puppet and a smaller Mammon puppet who rode a coach called “The Excess Express.” You can watch the struggle between Lady Wisdom and Mammon here. Continue reading “Palm Sunday: Puppets and Peace Parades”
Tired
“I am sick and tired of being sick and tired”
Fannie Lou Hamer
Radical Discipleship 