Metanoia

Ross Douthat: Celebration of the Passion or Self-Grooming?

"Christian mysticism that finds no center in the Eucharist or the Passion of Christ drifts into a form of self-grooming." I never expected to read this in a publication like the New York Times, but Ross Douthat gave a glimpse of his own faith in a review of a recent Commonweal article by Luke Timothy Johnson.

Freedom

A sermon on 2 Corinthians 3:18 and Luke 9:28-36

MP3 File

Thinking Christianly About War

There continues to be concern about the administration's political will and acumen with respect to the Afghan War. Much of the rhetoric seems to presuppose that the question of handling the war is simply one of pragmatism. Some on the left object to our making war in Afghanistan simply because they believe we ought to devote our resources to domestic projects.  Others on the right criticize the president because they believe the administration is not prosecuting the war with sufficient seriousness to protect essential American geopolitical interests.  But whenever good and patriotic American Christians reflexively embrace pragmatism as our moral framework for thinking about war, we forget the moral compass entrusted to us by virtue of our baptism and run the risk of steering our nation into shoal waters. 

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A Caution to Conservatives

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I long ago tuned out the profanation of journalistic integrity that pretends to be the successor to the legacy of Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, and the crop of journalists, coming of age in the '60s, who followed them. That means I rarely find my mind assaulted by the likes of Fox, CNN, MSBC News, who daily provide glimpses of what a life emptied of grace will become. My yearning to encounter the faces of suffering in Haiti caused me to tune back in briefly, and the binary, crass, oppositional logic deeply embedded in the discourse that has vanquished serious journalism - the fourth estate of our republic - leads me to worry if we as a people have lost our bearings.

Launching a Microfinance Ministry

Image by davesag via Flickr

This week, as we continue the Epiphany emphasis on identifying who Jesus the Messiah is, we'll be proclaiming the text from Luke 4:14-21 in which Jesus launches his ministry in Galilee by declaring “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” As those called to be the living hands of Christ enfleshing the good news to the poor in our time, we do well to be intentional about helping the poor in ways that point to enduring deliverance from the structures of poverty. With that in mind, we hope to launch a Life Group at St. Anne's Church that is committed to helping the poor in a way that promises to make a lasting difference over time. As you may know, Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank received the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for their pioneering work on microfinance. Our new ministry is aimed at learning how we can lend a hand to the poor by leveraging this important new way of helping the poor help themselves.

Blacks in Retreat

In his recent NY Times column, Bob Herbert provides some startling data about how the current economic crisis is affecting blacks in America:

Sam Wells: A Prayer for Haiti

I am thankful for my friend and teacher, Sam Wells (dean of the Duke Chapel), for writing this prayer for Haiti.  It expresses words to express the yearning of my soul as I witness the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Haiti. I urge you to pass this along, and let's all lift up our hearts in prayer.

God of the living and the dead,

we wail in grief at the pain and loss and horror and distress

of our brothers and sisters in Haiti.

We do not understand your ways –

that those who already suffer the most,

now suffer so much more.

Lead us to repentance,

that we who have sinned so much are punished so little,

and they who already struggle have now impossible burdens to bear.

Where people are still breathing under collapsed buildings,

give them air and hope and courageous searchers.

Where children are injured or orphaned,

find them trusted friends and generous caregivers.

Where despair is infectious and disease or looting spreads,

bring patience and forbearance and healing and strength to conquer temptation.

And when others look with compassion from afar,

release resources, empower expertise, shape political will,

and bring deliverance for your people in their distress.

Through him who was crushed and bruised for us,

in the comfort of your Holy Spirit. Amen

Where Was God in the Earthquake?

I write with heavy heart, my mind assaulted by the images of devastation wrought by the cataclysmic earthquake that struck Haiti yesterday.

As my heart and mind struggle to make sense of the suffering we see now and know to anticipate in the coming weeks and months, I can't help but think of my fellow sisters and brothers in Christ of St. Anne's Church and, especially, our children. What are we to say to one another?  What are we to say to our children whom we have pledged to teach to walk in the ways of the Lord? For, at such times, from the very depths of caring souls arises a groan, too deep for words, and, eventually, a haunting question: where was God in the earthquake? 

A Caution to Progressives: A More Excellent Way

Mark Galli, an Anglican who edits Christianity Today, reminds us below of something Stanley Hauerwas used to teach us repeatedly at Duke.  The task of the Church is not to transform the world, but to be the Church.  When we get confused about that, we tend to wander off into various forms of idolatry or clothe a practical atheism in priestly garb.....

More than three decades ago,[theologian Mary] Daly wrote, "If God is male, then male is God." She was right then, and she is right now. Religions that will not recognize the full equality of women simply substitute maleness for divinity.

via newsweek.washingtonpost.com