Tag: power
-
“Power, Fear, and Freedom”
A sermon based on Luke 8:26-39, for the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, which this year happens to fall on Juneteenth as well as Father’s Day
-
Convicted of being powerful?
Tikva Frymer-Kensky reminds us that deception is a necessary tool of the powerless: “The biblical world valued cunning in the underdog. Only the powerful value honesty at all costs.” [emphasis added] Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible: A New Interpretation of their Stories (New York: Schocken, 2002), 19; quoted in Meira Z. Kensky,…
-
Reflecting on 1 Kings 22 15-23, 26-28
We are studying 1 Kings 22:15-23 and 26-28 for Sunday, May 2. This is the story of the final interaction between the prophet Micaiah and king Ahab of [the Northern kingdom of] Israel, and it’s a textbook example of the prophet as someone who “speaks truth to power.” Also, of the frankly political issues highlighted…
-
Baptism of the Lord
A record number of members showed up at church on Saturday to help take down the Christmas decorations and re-fit the sanctuary for the Season After Epiphany – namely, wintry and spare. The regulars kept exclaiming “It only took us ONE HOUR” to get everything taken down and packed away and stored in the usual…
-
Pay Attention to the Relationship between Knowing and Power
Slowly making my way through Awake to the Moment, here are my summary notes and comments on the next couple of sections of “What Do We Know and How? Context and Questions”: Still looking at “what resources and ways of thinking we might bring to bear” on addressing the central questions of theological knowledge from…
-
On Being One of Them
Late last night, I sent the email to the student who had hoped to change the grade in the class that was over in June. No, there is no good way to do this, I finally said. No, I can’t. Which is true. But not simply true. “The faculty member always has some discretion.” That…
-
Forgiveness
Thinking about forgiveness this morning – why? Because we practiced “Forgive Our Sins as We Forgive” at choir practice on Wednesday? Because of trying to finish The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible for book group? For whatever reason, the thought unfolded something like this: Forgiveness – the act of forgiving another, the…
Matters of Interpretation 