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 »

St. Luke was a third generation Christian. He was not a Jew, was not from the Holy Land, did not know Jesus. He had to learn about Jesus from St. Paul… who had to learn about Jesus from those who walked the dusty roads of Galilee with him. So when St. Luke told the story… Read More »

‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ When St. Basil, one of the Fathers of the Church reflects on this passage from a parable of Jesus he says that the rich man should not have thought of storing is excess harvest in bigger barns but in the bellies… Read More »

The great fourth century African bishop, Saint Augustine wrote an autobiography called The Confessions. When he talks about his schooling he has painful memories – literally. It was the days that believed in the old adage, spare the rod and you spoil the child. So Augustine was beaten by his schoolmasters not only for cutting… Read More »