All of us get distracted from time to time. It is our human nature. People are designed to focus intently on one thing, but still let other things grab their attention. That mixture of single-mindedness and sensitivity to events is what makes us able to do complicated human things like drive a car or run a company or be a parent.
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Read MorePurity rules, like taboos, exist for two reasons: for identity and for safety. People who obey the same cultural rules and agree on what is nice and what is disgusting are my people. My people are the ones who obey the law. The law they obey is the one that they established. Other people obey other laws. Those people are not my people. Their rules seem foolish or evil, sometimes.
Read MoreScripture only. Sola scriptura as Martin Luther put it in Latin, his motto for the authority on which Christians should base their faith. Our authoritative guide is the Bible, not the church or preachers or talk show hosts. In Luther’s day this freed people from the onerous power of the church. In our day, it gives Christians common ground for a faithful life.
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Read MoreOn the city streets you overhear things you probably should not. The other day someone walked by the front of the house talking on her cell phone. She was explaining to her friend that she was planning to break up with her fiance. But it was secret. She didn’t want anyone to know. Just her best friend. Plus, it turns out, everyone who lives on Tremont Street between Hampshire and Cambridge.
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Read MorePerhaps you see this story in Kings as a story about power. If so, you would not be alone. The Bible makes lots of people think about power. A lot of the stories in it talk plainly about power. God is powerful. God’s power helps people be powerful. The power of the righteous is greater than the power of the unrighteous. Good is more powerful than evil. Even when it seems that evil is powerful, it turns out that good is more powerful. As in the story of the passion. Paul writes about the power of sin and the power of being baptized into the resurrected Christ. The people whose scripture is the Bible believe that in the end the power of God overwhelms and fills the universe.
Read MoreText: Psalm 8
Other texts: Proverbs 8
Today we celebrate the Trinity. A celebration, it seems, of a doctrine. Not a story, not a parable, not a teaching of Jesus. As I said earlier, for some the idea of the Trinity is what makes Christianity rich and meaningful. For others, the doctrine of the Trinity seems obscure, institutional, and a barrier—a stumbling block—to knowing and living a life of faith.
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Read MoreOther texts: Acts 2:1-21
It appears that many people like to talk about God. What God has done for them and the world. About their relationship and history with God. On the whole, that seems like a positive thing. If God is good and good for you, then telling other folks can be inspiring and helpful to them. Even life-giving. The Bible is the story of God. It tells God’s story to anyone who wishes to find out about it.
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Read MoreMarriage is a covenant. Not a contract, usually, even though we speak casually of a marriage contract. If people have a pre-nuptial agreement, that agreement is a contract, but it does not make marriage itself a contract. A contract requires an offer, and acceptance, and a consideration.
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Read MoreFor thirty-eight years the man had the same job. Thirty-eight years of sitting by the poolside. Thirty-eight years of hoping to get into the waters at the right time. Thirty-eight years of unrequited longing to be healed. Thirty-eight years of being pushed aside and passed by. Thirty-eight years is a long time.
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Read MoreJesus was not a Christian. Luther was not a Lutheran.
We know that Luther was dismayed that people were creating a new church in his name. Maybe Jesus feels the same way. I don’t know. The Bible doesn’t say.
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