We believe in his resurrection! Is this true? Do we believe all that is involved in this? He is the living one. He is the victor over sin and death. He is not one who ascended into heaven in order to disappear from world history as if he had never been in it. He...
Lent is not meant to provide comfort for the feelings of sinfulness of those who are comfortable. Rather, the Gospel texts for Lent raise suspicion against the wielding of power in this world as a means of salvation.
More than anything else, the cross says that God can and must be seen in all things, but most especially in the seemingly sinful, broken and tragic things. The place of the supposed worst becomes the place of the very best. The mystery of the cross teaches us to be...
When we examine the broad spectrum of Christian proclamation and practice, we see that the only thing made essential on the right wing of theology is forgiveness of the individual’s sins. On the left it is removal of social or structural evils. The current gospel then...
Vocation, the way I was seeking it, becomes an act of will, a grim determination that one’s life will go this way or that whether it wants to or not. If the self is sin-ridden and will bow to truth and goodness only under duress, that approach to vocation makes sense....
One of the greatest challenges of the spiritual life is to receive God’s forgiveness. There is something in us humans that keeps us clinging to our sins and prevents us from letting God erase our past and offer us a completely new beginning. Sometimes it even seems as...
He descended into hell. That is very cheerful news… There is nothing I have known this side of hell that is unfamiliar to him. There is nothing known to me which I am wont to call hell which he has not already known. Nor is there anything beyond these realms which,...
Beware lest you make Christ into a Moses, and the gospel into a book of law or doctrine… In fact, however, the gospel demands no works to make us holy and to redeem us. Indeed, it condemns such works, and demands only faith in Christ, because he has overcome sin,...
Why is it so hard to believe Christ and trust him completely? Christ wants to give us his life and spirit, and if we look to him for only a moment, our hearts tell us: Here is one we can trust. Yet each of us knows feelings of fear and anxiety. Something in us seeks...
Jesus was not interested in making people religious, but leading them to a loving relationship with himself, and therefore with God. He offered forgiveness and healing to sin-sick souls as the basis of new life, opening up a path of discipleship, compassion and...