Today is Ash Wednesday. Since the Thomas Fire of 2017 in our bioregion, we have used ashes from our beloved Grandmother Oak to symbolize the invitation to personal and political repentance. Some friends in Pasadena are doing the same in the aftermath of the Eaton Fire two months ago. May our Lenten journey help us…
In the Year C lectionary, Mark Scibilia-Carver writes, “many years do not have a 7th Sunday in Epiphany because Lent intervenes too early. But this year it is included, and the Gospel reading is Luke 6:27-38. This contains the second and third instances of Jesus’ imperatives to ‘love your enemies,’ …
Note: Our “Detox on President’s Day” free webinar is coming up on Mon, Feb 17, 4:30-6 pm PST. Ched will talk about Healing Affluenza and interview Chuck Collins of inequality.org. Chuck (right) is the foremost critic of plutocracy in the U.S., and wrote the Foreword to HARP (he’ll talk about his new book too!) Register…
Note: Our “Detox on President’s Day” free webinar is less than two weeks way (to make up for our postponed book party J)! On Mon, Feb 17, 4:30-6 pm PST, Ched will talk about Healing Affluenza and interview Chuck Collins of inequality.org. Chuck (right) is the foremost critic of plutocracy in the U.S., and wrote…
Jesus’ introduces his public ministry in synagogues on the Sabbath (Lk 4:14-16), in order to engage the spiritual heart of his place and people. Preaching matters!
This inaugural sermon stretches out over two Sundays in Epiphany
Ched’s new book is now out! However, in respect for the huge losses and trauma from the Los Angeles fires this month (see more below), we have moved our launch party back: from Feb 15th to Saturday, April 5th.
Today is the 500th anniversary of a group of radicals who defied the Zürich city council by baptizing each other as adults the night of January 21, 1525. This fanned the embers of the Radical Reformation and Anabaptist movements.
The fact that Trump’s inauguration will take place on Jan 20th—the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday—is a clear indicator of how confused and conflicted this country is (see a concise commentary by the Boggs Center’s Shea Howell here). So on this January 15th (the actual birthday of our country’s greatest prophet), I’ll offer a few thoughts on the problem of plutocracy in this Second Gilded Age.
We are back on the trail of weekly posts on Luke and Year C. Tuesday began the season of Epiphany (see this piece on Epiphany under Empire). The first Sunday (1/12) is traditionally celebrated as the Feast of Jesus Baptism. Here are some (edited) notes from Healing Affluenza and Resisting Plutocracy:
The episode of the young Jesus in the Temple is Luke’s “epilogue” to his nativity story, and unique to the Third Gospel. While there are many later apocryphal tales that speculated on Jesus’ childhood (most of them quite fanciful; see here), this is our only biblical testimony.