Reference: Luke 16:1-15 If there is one accusation made about church people that seems more or less permanent, it is that we are hypocrites. It is an accusation that Jesus also levels at the Pharisees. The story that he tells, referenced above from Luke, addresses the root causes. Jesus begins by telling the story of […]

Reference: Luke 15:1-10 “I have found Jesus!” To which the jaded among us reply, “I didn’t know he was lost.” And, while that is a snarky response to a happy statement, it rings true. To “find” Jesus is in fact to discover your real self. Jesus has never been lost, you have. God, who has […]

Reference: Letter to Philemon St. Paul is often in trouble with moderns for taking inappropriate socio-political stances. That is often unfair, as a closer examination of what he is saying and the context of it usually shows. But one can only imagine the uproar which would follow if the Letter to Philemon were released in […]

Reference: Luke 14:7-14 Kenosis is not talked about very much as a Biblical mandate. It isn’t taught much in catechetical classes or sermons. Even less is it part of society’s mandate. Among the many books on how to be successful, none mention it. No marches demand it, no lobbyists promote it. On the other hand, […]

Reference: Luke 12:49-56 The struggles over whether or not Biblical authority is determinative for current Christian belief or is only advisory has resulted in splits across many denominations. The cry of “schism” has been raised, accusing many who have left a denomination of dividing Christianity, “leaving the Church.” Yet splits and divisions are hardly new. […]

Reference: Luke 12:27-40 Cielo Vista shopping mall in El Paso is well known to me, a place I have been a dozen times, a friendly, cheerful and safe locale to take care of my shopping needs. To see it on the national news as a place of horror and tragedy is deeply disturbing, as I […]

Reference: Colossians 3:1-17 Orientation literally means to face east. In liturgical churches, the altar always faces east (even when it doesn’t: “liturgical east” is a mystical concept defining “east” as wherever the altar is facing, but ideally, this is also geographical east). For the Christian, orientation is, as St. Paul puts it, to “set your […]