Though the whole world belonged to the Lord present everywhere, the Jerusalem Temple was the prime earthly dwelling of the Lord and place of divine-human encounter. Mary and Joseph are shown going to the Temple for the rituals around childbirth. In Israelite thinking,...
Costly Grace By The Rev. Craig A. Phillips, Ph.D. In the Gospel of Matthew, we encounter the following difficult saying of Jesus. It is what is often called a “hard saying,” meaning that for the most part it is not something that we who read it want to hear or do....
The first reading (from the Nehemiah Memoirs of the mid-fifth century) and the second reading, the Gospel of Luke, are both press conferences though without TV cameras and microphones. Today, whether it is the launch of a new Apple device or a disaster, we expect...
By The Rev. Craig A. Phillips, Ph.D. Many people are committed to working for God in the church. As they go about the tasks at hand, they hope that they are doing what they call “God’s will.” In my experience, persons on Vestries and other committees of the...
Learning Through Accompaniment: Liberation Theology and Re-entry Communities at Fordham University By Sebastian Budinich When teaching liberation theology to undergraduate students at Fordham University, one of the greatest challenges is bridging the gap between...
We usually look at the Lectionary readings with an eye to the lesson they teach us. What action do they urge? Today, differently, we ask: What do the readings tell us about what God, not ourselves, is doing in the world today? In the first reading from Isaiah, God...