Word on Fire Sermon Podcast: Episodes
Easter is victory day. Jesus came, in C.S. Lewis' words, as a warrior to do battle with all of the powers of darkness, from oppression and violence, to disease and death itself. On the cross, he struggled at close quarters with the enemy that most frightens us, and in the Resurrection, he won the victory ...
The Word entered into our flesh in order to bring the love and justice of God even to the darkest places. Jesus stands shoulder to shoulder with sinners in the waters of the Jordan, and, at the end of his ministry, he goes into the pain and anguish of death itself in order to save us.
The New Testament frequently explores the scapegoating violence of the mob, nowhere more insightfully than in the story of the woman caught in adultery. Jesus stops the momentum of the violent crowd and forces them to see their own sin.
The healthy religious life is lived out between fear and complacency. If the excessive fear of God was a problem years ago, a complacent attitude seems far more pervasive and dangerous today. What the Bible says consistently is "don't be afraid: so get going!"
We Christians, as Paul reminds us, have our citizenship in heaven. This means that, here below, we are "resident aliens," at work in the world, but our eyes fixed on a transcendent goal. This makes us, paradoxically enough, the best friends the world ever had.
We conclude our analysis by examining the least serious of the deadly sins, namely gluttony and lust. And we propose as their antidotes asceticism and chastity.
Here we look at sloth (the sin that some spiritual masters have called the most serious in our time) and avarice, as well as their antidotes, zeal for the mission and generosity.
Here we examine the deadly sins of envy and anger, and we explore their antidotes, admiration and forgiveness.
The principle spiritual dysfunction's of human beings have been named traditionally as the seven deadly sins. In this first of a four-part series, we discuss the nature of sin and the first of the deadly sins, pride. Finally, we explore the antidote to pride, the lively virtue of humility.
The Bible rather consistently lays out three ways walked by the man or woman of holiness: finding the center, knowing you're a sinner, and realizing your life is not about you. All of these are beautifully presented in the story of the call of Simon.
Baptism is literally a Christ-ening, a turning of someone into Christ. This means that all baptized people must assume the three-fold office of Jesus: priest (sanctifier), king (leader), and prophet (speaker of the truth).
The Church of Jesus Christ is not a club, not a social organization, not a collectivity of like-minded people. Rather, it is a living organism, a body composed of interdependent cells and molecules.
When Jesus appears at the Wedding Feast of Cana, he signals the marriage of heaven and earth. When God moves into our experience, he transfigures humanity, elevating art, philosophy, science and politics into bearers of the sacred. He changes the water of earth into the wine of heaven.
When the Gospels talk about families, we might be a bit surprised. There is nothing sentimental in the Biblical vision of families. They are seen, not as ends in themselves, but as training grounds for the work of the Kingdom.
At Christmas, the Word became flesh. This means that God's own mind became a tiny child, small enough to hold in our hands. This is the poetry, the glory, the surprise of Christmas.