What’s up with the ‘b?’ I base my Sunday gospel ‘homilies’ on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ reading calendar, which is synchronized with that of the Catholic Church. Today’s reading lists the reading with the ‘b’, which is unusual, as scripture verses are typically not divided into English letter parts. Upon cracking open your Bible, you will notice that the beginning of John 17:11 on the webpage does not exist in the actual verse. Instead, it has apparently been adapted from John 17:1 as a proper beginning to the reading, since it is only part of Jesus’s entire “prayer” and would be confusing without the addition. Since I would also like to focus on only verses 11-19, I chose to keep the ‘b’ in my post title. So, with that cleared up, onto the reading!
Filed under: Homilies | Tags: commandments, friends, Jesus, love, slaves, The Golden Rule
There’s a whole lotta love in today’s gospel reading. God’s love for Jesus, Jesus’s love for humanity, humanity’s love for God and Jesus, and, of course, our love for one another.
Filed under: Reflections
There’s a joke that goes like this: a Christian and an agnostic are debating the historical Jesus. The agnostic says to the Christian, “Jesus never even said that he was divine!” The Christian says, “You’re wrong.” She flips open her bible and says, “Look, right here. Jesus says: I am de vine, you are de branches.”
Filed under: Reflections | Tags: i am the good shepherd, Jesus, sheep, sheeple, the good shepherd
In the Gospels, Jesus alternately refers to himself as a both a good shepherd and the “lamb” of God. It is not to confuse us; it is important to understand the context for each, which, as I hope to show you in this letter, Jesus gives plenty of.
Filed under: Reflections
Welcome to the second part of my reflections on God and…politics. I spent most of the first part on background, so let’s get right to it.
Filed under: Reflections | Tags: Christian nation, faith and politics, first amendment, god & politics, god and politics, God in America, politics, religion, religious right, separation of church & state, separation of church and state
If you’re like me, you shudder when you see those words put together like that. I’ll go ahead and tell you right off of the bat that I don’t approve of mixing them. You may disagree. Hopefully, if that’s the case, I can persuade you (whatever your political beliefs) to agree with me that they should be kept as far apart as possible. Now, this letter will focus mainly on American politics because I’m not familiar enough with any others to really have anything to say about them (other than that it’s a safe bet that God shouldn’t be in them). Also, it has been my observation that of all industrialized so-called “Western” countries, religion plays the biggest role in American politics. If you’re reading this in another country, I encourage you to continue anyways, as I believe that what I have to say is very general. There is a lot to be said, so this will be yet another multi-letter series. Continue reading
Filed under: Homilies, Reflections | Tags: angels, Easter, gospel according to mark, gospel of mark, Mary Magdalene, resurrection
- Image by Lawrence OP via Flickr
I hope you had a wonderful Easter! It’s been a long journey, but hopefully there were Peeps at the end. More importantly, Jesus has risen!
Filed under: Reflections | Tags: Christ's Passion, Easter, Easter Vigil, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Holy Thursday, Holy Week, Last Supper, Maundy Thursday, resurrection, Triduum
Tomorrow marks the beginning of the three most sacred days for Christians, also known as the Triduum. The Triduum begins with Holy Thursday (tomorrow), which is also known as Maundy Thursday in some Christian denominations. In this letter, I will try to explain the concept of the Triduum, assuming you’re not already familiar with it.
Filed under: Reflections | Tags: antichrist, cage wrestling, hand-to-hand combat, jesus vs. satan, puppies, satan, undead, zombies
I have previously spoken about the apocalypse and the Book of Revelations, but I wanted to spend a letter discussing one of the more nuanced prophesies of John: the end-of-time, no-holds-barred, all-out cage match between Jesus and Satan.
Filed under: Homilies | Tags: death, gospel, grains of wheat, Jn 12:20-30, suffering, The Problem of Evil
I’ve heard the Gospel of John described as the Gospel of “Jesus on a Cloud,” meaning that in it, Jesus is quite a bit preachier than in the three previous Gospels, and shows less of his human side. Especially with passages like this, I have to agree. But just because Jesus is talking more in this passage, doesn’t mean what he has to say is any less important, or interesting. Indeed, there’s a lot to digest in this unusually-long reading.
Letters From Timothy 