Ado Annie, a character in the play, Oklahoma, sings this song: “It ain’t so much a question of not knowin’ what to do. I knowed what’s right an’ wrong since I’ve been ten… I know I mustn’t fall into the pit but when I meet a feller, I forget.” The prophet Jeremiah chides the people… Read More »

Some sermons are more memorable than others — and not always for the best reasons. About 1970 one of the older priests was, apparently, tired of hearing what we seminarians were saying about a new way of being Church. He preached: “You can love, love, love until the cows come home but you’ve still got… Read More »

We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader, no burnt offering, sacrifice, oblation, or incense, no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you. But with contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received; As though it were burnt offerings of rams and bullocks, or thousands of fat lambs. This… Read More »

Researchers have been investigating why Gen Y and Gen Z (those born after 1982 who constitute 59% of the population of the world) seem so disinclined to associate with organized religion. They have found that there is an admiration for Jesus on the part of these cohorts but they don’t see a connection between what… Read More »

“Is the Lord in our midst or not?” the people of the Exodus asked. It seems like a legitimate question when you are experiencing troubles and difficulties. Shouldn’t things go well when the Lord is in your midst? We are tempted to ask the same question when we look at the way things are in… Read More »

What we ordinarily call the Parable of the Prodigal Son is mis-named. Jesus tells us the proper name: “A man had two sons.” The focus of the parable is on the father and how the father acted, not upon the prodigal or the other son. The boys themselves simply did not get their father. The… Read More »

The story of Joseph in the Bible has echoes in our time in the life of Dr. ML King, Jr.  “Here comes that master dreamer! Come on, let us kill him… We shall then see what comes of his dreams.” As we have experienced, you can kill the dreamer but you can’t kill the dream… Read More »

There was a book a few years ago entitled “Texts of Terror.” It was a commentary on several Biblical stories which were terrifying in the way women were treated. The gospel of the Rich Man and Lazarus is my own personal text of terror. It warns me how easily we (I) can slip into complacency.… Read More »

Many years ago a friend who was getting a Ph.D. in Religion at the University of Chicago invited me to a seminar on the Bible with his classmates. About a dozen or so were around the table discussing some passage in the Bible. It suddenly struck me that this was simply the discussion of a… Read More »

When people come to confession they generally confess something like lying or cursing or stealing or some sexual transgression. Sinfulness has to do with their faults and failings. That is not the way the prophet looks at sin. Isaiah says, Cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear… Read More »