The trouble with this viewpoint is that it seeks to benefit from faith without putting any work into it. It looks for safety, it looks for rescue and the salvation from eternal damnation, rather than a relationship with God. It is purely practical.
I was born during the Civil Rights era. Too young to live it, old enough to read about it and know I was a piece of it. Living in the southwest in a diverse neighborhood of poor white, Mexican, Chicano, Yaqui Indian, Jewish Pharmacist, Korean, Italian, and Black (still saying “Negro” and not catching on…
Lectionary Readings – 7th Sunday after Pentecost Since I grew up in northern Alaska, I have never spent much time farming, nor have I seen much in the way of wheat when it’s young. But from what I’ve been told is that when wheat is young, it looks very much like grass. More to the…
[Mike’s Note: In case you’re wondering, Deepa reads through most of my entries before I publish them. So if you happen to think some of them are any good, it’s because of her doing.] Mike and I met in seminary. I think a lifetime ago. But let’s fast forward to this morning. Me: “So you…
Daily Office Readings – Old Testament ( Joshua 2:1-14 ) Today the Old Testament passage was about the two spies that Joshua sent into Jericho and their interaction with the prostitute Rahab. I’ve read this story multiple times, and for whatever reason, today what jumped out at me was not the fact that Rahab was…
Some old men came to see Abba Poemen, and said to him: Tell us, when we see brothers dozing during the sacred office, should we pinch them so they will stay awake? The old man said to them: Actually, if I saw a brother sleeping, I would put his head on my knees and let…
Daily Office Readings – Gospel ( Matthew 23:1-12 ) [Today’s entry is less of a full-fledged thought and more of a compilation of separate thoughts on different portions of the scripture, more in line with what I had originally expected from the Daily Office Reflections.] Do As I Say Once again, in today’s Gospel reading,…