A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small, "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people...
If Christmas is about being happy, jolly, and untroubled and therefore able to celebrate, few can participate. But Advent is about broken people in a broken world, yearning for a long-promised redemption.
[from his time as an inmate at Auschwitz:] The experiences of camp life show that humanity does have a choice of action. There were enough examples, often of a heroic nature, which proved that apathy could be overcome, irritability suppressed. Humanity can preserve a...
Next to the calling of the disciples, I expect that Matthew’s story about their sending forth is one of the most confrontational stories in all the Bible. Can you imagine? There you are, perfectly content to be a follower, when Jesus comes home all worn out one day...