Susan Holman is a researcher and writer at Harvard University. She has published several books about the early church. Her most recent book is titled Beholden: Religion, Global Health, and Human Rights, published by Oxford University Press. In the beginning of her book she talks about the death of her father in 2009 and …
Come out from hiding!
Saint John tells us at the beginning of his Gospel: No one has ever seen God, but the only Son who is at the Father’s side has made him known. The invisible becomes visible, the unknown becomes known. These paradoxes are at the heart of the Christian revelation. Revelation indeed means unveiling, uncovering - …
Artists of Faith
Today is the feast day of St. Luke, the Evangelist, "the beloved physician," as St. Paul calls him in our reading today from the Letter to the Colossians. Luke wrote one of the three 'Synoptic Gospels" and one can easily see it is the most artfully and best written of the three! It is a …
Two Kings, two separate ways
Our Gospel reading today (Matthew 22:2-14) is a very troubling parable - violent, condemning, exclusionary at the same time that it is inclusive. I usually focus on the inclusive aspects, but not today. In light of what’s going on in the world - the violence, the exclusion, the hatred and terrorism - it’s incumbent that I …
You know what is boring?
Audio file of today's sermon "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means …
Marks of Community
Today's Gospel reading, Luke 13:10-17, should be read in the context of the entire chapter 13 of Luke. Jesus heals the woman who was bent over for eighteen years in the midst of various parables and confrontational dialogues. What unifies all these segments of chapter 13 is the idea of community. A careful reading of this …
There are no crumbs in God’s kingdom
Today's Gospel reading, Luke 16:19-31, is the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. The parable is one of many that Jesus spoke about money and how God sees rich and poor people. Indeed, the context here is worth looking at. Chapter 16 of Luke's Gospel begins with another parable about money and Jesus concludes …
Forgiveness According to Jesus
Last Sunday's (Aug 24th) Gospel reading continues to haunt me. It's a beautiful parable, one that is typical of how Jesus taught the unconditional love of God. Unfortunately, the parable raises troubling questions in addition to answering the universal human need for forgiveness. In the parable, a king forgives a huge debt (in today's money, …
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