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ON Scripture - Matthew 14:22-33: Faith within the Chaos
(August 3, 2011) I doubt Peter expects a walk on the sea will alleviate all his fears. Rather, his desire to join Jesus on the water expresses a desire for transcendence. ON Scripture – Sunday, August...
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ON Scripture - Matthew 15:21-28: Teaching Jesus
(August 10, 2011) This story in Matthew 15 is very troubling. A Canaanite woman cries out to Jesus to heal her daughter. By the end of the story, her daughter has been healed -- but between the crying...
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ON Scripture - Exodus 1:8-2:10: Faith in the Past, Present, and Future
(August 17, 2011) Had fear prevailed, we would not know the name “Moses” today. Had Pharaoh triumphed, the story of God’s liberation of God’s enslaved people could not be told. ON Scripture – Sunday,...
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ON Scripture - Matthew 16:21-28: Jesus Has No Part-Time
(August 24, 2011) Jesus’ verbs say it all. Deny the self, take up the cross, follow Christ. Moreover, only in losing one’s life – the primary meaning of apollymi is to destroy – one may save it. And...
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ON Scripture - Matthew 18:15-20: Insiders and Outsiders
(August 31, 2011) From Matthew's perspective, Jesus is both warning and assuring those inside the young Christian church. It is a church, however, whose members stand outside the main streams of both...
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ON Scripture - Exodus 14:19–31: Singing Through the Sorrow
(September 7, 2011) We haven’t had any clear victories to sing about since September 11, 2001.... While many cheered the death of Osama bin Laden, his death has not turned sorrow into joy or filled an...
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ON Scripture - Matthew 20:1-16: Justice Comes in the Evening
(September 14, 2011) Our notions of justice usually cannot help but be influenced by our own circumstances and by our opinions about what we and others deserve. ON Scripture – Sunday, September 18,...
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ON Scripture - Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32: Prophetic Vision for a Just Economic...
(September 21, 2011) Ezekiel speaks compellingly to the current situation in the United States. But is the prophet’s message true? ON Scripture – Sunday, September 25, 2011Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32:...
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ON Scripture - Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20: Ten Commandments - Rules and...
(September 28, 2011) A 2007 survey reported that most Americans could rattle off the ingredients of a Big Mac more readily than the Ten Commandments. And yet the Ten Commandments play an...
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ON Scripture - Matthew 22:1-11 - A Biblical Case of Class Warfare
(October 5, 2011) While Matthew’s Jesus speaks the parable as a means of addressing Roman imperialism and abuse of power, the passage is clearly a polemic highlighting social and class hierarchy. It...
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ON Scripture - Matthew 22:15-22: The Heavy Cost Of Paying "The Emperor"
(October 12, 2011) It couldn’t hurt for Jesus to show up and weigh in on America’s current economic and political challenges.... Then again, this would likely get him killed all over again. ON...
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ON Scripture - Matthew 22:34-46: On Loving God, Loving Neighbor and #OWS
(October 19, 2011) Over-indulged religious leaders and government officials alike found it impossible to get him to sell-out. Jesus remained single-minded throughout his life: Love God and neighbor,...
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ON Scripture - Jeremiah 31:31-34: The Oracle of Newness
(October 26, 2011) God, says Jeremiah, is ready to forgive and to forget, so that the renewed relationship is one of generosity and grace on God’s part. ON Scripture – Sunday, October 30, 2011...
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ON Scripture - Joshua 24: 1-3a, 14-25: Making the God Decision
(November 2, 2011) What is before us in our society, as it was before Joshua and his companions, is a life-or-death decision about God and neighbor. The God-decision is a recognition that we are not...
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ON Scripture - Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18: The Great Day of the Lord Is Near
(November 9, 2011) What a time is coming on our obdurate society! What a season it will be when our control turns feeble. What a day it will be when we see the limit and failure of our anxious...
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ON Scripture - Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 - Failed Kings and the Good Shepherd
(November 16, 2011) In Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24, Ezekiel ponders a) how his society has come to the disaster of destruction and deportation and, b) how to move forward beyond the disaster. He reflects...
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On Scripture - Mark 13:24-37 - Advent: One of Those Dangerous Religious Ideas
(November 23, 2011) Here comes Black Friday, even earlier than usual. Bell-ringers are appearing outside stores. Advertisers are shifting the consumerism-as-therapy machine into high gear. And...
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ON Scripture - Mark 1:1-8: God Barges Into Our Lives
(November 30, 2011) Beginnings can be abrupt. Our minds tend to search, often in vain, for the cause or the reason for a movement when, in truth, movements are frequently more the product of a...
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ON Scripture: John 1:6-8;19-28: Faith and Fear
(December 7, 2011) The fear about exposure and judgment comes to white hot focus in a remarkable biblical story, told early in the Gospel of John, about an investigative team dispatched from the...
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Luke 1:39-56: Magnificat for a Broken World
(December 14, 2011) What does it mean to wait for God in a broken world? What does it mean to wait in a time in which God’s promise of redemption is met by the despair of the poor, the greed of those...
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