“You are … members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles.” For St. Paul, the apostolic foundation is necessary for the Church to be Church. In our creeds we confess that we are an apostolic church. Yet we know so little about the apostles except their names. While the apostles… Read More »

The feast of the Guardian Angels provides an opportunity to reflect on those times when we have felt a particular divine presence — protection, guidance, consolation. But the Bible presumes that besides the benign presence of angels there also exists the malevolent presence of “principalities and powers and evil spirits.” Instead of protection, the evil… Read More »

St. Paul does not challenge the status quo of society but instead lays out principles to guide the Christian life in the midst of a pagan world. Thus, he simply presumes that slavery exists and seeks to provide guidelines for Christians in a world which condoned slavery. Throughout the centuries the Church has wrestled with… Read More »

Some preachers tend to avoid Ephesians 5 with the line: “Wives be subordinate to your husbands.” It reflects a time of patriarchy which seems out of sync with modern sensibilities. However, a more careful look at the text provides a better understanding of what St. Paul is urging. The passage begins, “Be subordinate to one… Read More »

“Be imitators of God.” Seems like a pretty tall order from St. Paul. I can’t imitate God in creation nor can I imitate God in redemption. How am I supposed to heed the Apostle? What we can do according to the epistle is imitate God in forgiveness. “Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one… Read More »

The Rabbi walked up to the front of the synagogue and fell to his knees praying: “Dear God, I am not worthy, I am the lowest of the low, a worm and no man. I am dust and ashes, small and of little account.” The cantor then walked up to the front of the synagogue… Read More »

“Living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ.” It is easy to get lulled into a certain complacency. We figure we’re doing pretty good and rest content. But St. Paul reminds us we need to “grow” into Christ. We are not set in stone; we… Read More »

Although nothing could be as crazy as this election season, 1968 had its share of insanity. It was the time of the Viet Nam war, the civil rights movement, the birth of feminism and Richard Nixon. The Democratic candidate for president, Hubert Humphrey, was famous would winding up his stump speeches invoking “the brotherhood of… Read More »

“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” Jesus was about fire. We seem content with being tepid. Do you remember the old Johnny Cash song: I fell into a burning ring a fire? The experience of passionate love seems to combust our insides. Jesus had… Read More »

It might be hard for us to understand the importance St. Paul places on the outreach of the Jesus movement to the Gentiles. What’s the big deal, we might ask. And yet, we know in our own time the temptation to divide the world up into “us” and “them.” The political fear of the immigrant… Read More »