Tag Archives: Lent
St. Patrick and the hermeneutic circle as living into the holiness of life during Lent
St. Patrick’s Day is more than green beer, The Pogues and 5K runs. It is a time to remember during this Lenten season the life of a former slave whose freedom meant freedom from darkness for not only Ireland but many people through the centuries.
We live in the real world. This may come as a shock to some, but it remains a truth that needs to be reflected on. … There’s more to read here.
Giving up the self for Lent – Wisdom in Tom Wright and Tom Waits
A few years ago I wrote a book called Freedom of the Self that was an extended reflection on what it would mean to embrace the call of Philippians 2: 5 – 11 as more than a designation of Christ’s servanthood and self-emptying of the Divine, but a syllabus for the life we are to be living as what I called “the kenotic self”. The word ‘kenosis’ is the … There’s more to read here.
The Problem of Pain: A Lenten series of CS Lewis quotations
As I am heading off in just over a month for a sabbatical term as Visiting Research Scholar at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford I have been thinking about writers associated with that amazing place who have impacted my spiritual journey. As with many people, C.S. Lewis tops the list. From my childhood through to my teaching career as a theologian, Lewis has impacted my work, my reflections, my sense … There’s more to read here.
Jesus – Dead or Alive? Luke Timothy Johnson and the temptation to put Jesus back in the tomb
One of my favorite New Testament Scholars is Luke Timothy Johnson who is the R.W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Emory University in Atlanta. He is a former Benedictine monk and prolific scholar whose work digs deep into scripture but continues to ask very humane questions. In his 1999 book Living Jesus: Learning the Heart of the Gospels, he poses a deceptively simple yet … There’s more to read here.
Easter: Fantastic Mr. Fox, St. Augustine, Calvin and Bonhoeffer on why the Cross remains
At the beginning of Wes Anderson’s animated film Fantastic Mr. Fox, Mr and Mrs Fox are trapped by a farmer and perceiving that this might be the end, they have the following interchange:
Mrs. Fox: This story’s too predictable.
Mr. Fox: Predictable? Really? Then, how does it end?
Mrs. Fox: In the end, we all die. Unless you change.
There is something in the simplicity of this exchange that … There’s more to read here.
Holy Saturday: Following Job beyond a Heretical Praise Song
Passion week thrusts us into a realm of uncertainty amidst the certainty of Christ that should unsettle us to our very core. As we sit now before both an empty cross and a tomb now filled with our Savior – is it right to wonder where this is all leading? To ask what is going to happen now? Sure, many Christians know how the story ends (SPOILER ALERT!) and the fact … There’s more to read here.
Good Friday: Poetry for reflection from Auden, Berry, Cairns and Levertov
Stop All The Clocks
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone
Prevent the dog from barking at a juicy bone
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling in the sky the message “He is dead”
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves
He … There’s more to read here.
Maundy Thursday – The empty cup, Annie Dillard, and stumbling into the Garden with U2
The world of Scripture is a world of “limited good.” That is, everything that exists is perceived to exist in limited amounts, in amounts that cannot be augmented without depriving others. As we come to this point in Holy Week, we come against the limits of our lives and the limits of what is around us. After weeks of fasting and doing without, coming into Holy Week is often a … There’s more to read here.
Holy Week: Ending violence, Patty Griffin, and taking steps towards the power of an invincible forgiveness
It seems strange to live on this side of Palm Sunday – so much excitement and optimism about what the world could be, how things might turn out always seems to be pointed toward the positive, affirmative, and hopeful. Yet we don’t live in an age of optimism. No, we are in the age after the possibilities of human potential, the failure of institutions that once held such promise … There’s more to read here.
Palm Sunday: Moulin Rouge comes to Jerusalem
“Ho Sanna, Hey Sanna, Sanna, Sanna, Ho…” As today officially announces the beginning of Holy Week, Palm Sunday is a bitter sweet reminder of how quickly we can embrace passion and, for better or for worst, join the crowd. It is a day to ask ourselves why we are cheering for Jesus as he enters Jerusalem. What is our deep motivation for screaming at the top of our lungs, for … There’s more to read here.
