Boff on the Liberative Import of the Christian Gospel

January 11, 2013

In my preparation for my upcoming class on “Culture and Systems Change” at George Fox Seminary, I came across this quote from Leonardo Boff in his book on Base Ecclesial Communities. In it he aptly describes the obstacles those within the early liberation movement faced in building a sustainable movement for justice based on the teachings of Jesus. These obstacles are still in play today for many people in this country and around the world.

The second obstacle [to liberation theology] concerns the liberative import of the Christian. We are the heirs of a codification of faith that has concentrated particularly on the call of faith to a person in his or her individuality, or to the family as privileged medium of transmission of the Christian faith and ethos. This form of Christianity has not thoroughly explored the liberative dimensions of faith-the so called “perilous, subversive memory of Jesus Christ” who was crucified by the powers of this world and raised up by God to demonstrate the divine and human triumph of a life sacrificed for the cause of the total liberation of human beings, especially of the impoverished. The Puebla conference harshly criticized this reduction of Christianity to the intimate spheres of private life.

Jesus preached and died in public, out in the world, and he is Lord not only of the little corners of our hearts, but of society and the cosmos as well. Continue Reading…

In Quotations
permalink
Posted on January 10, 2013 In The Artful, The Pastorate , , ,
permalink 3 Comments

Nothing is more practical than finding God,
that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way.

What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination will affect everything.

It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read,
who you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.

Fall in love,
stay in love,
and it will decide everything.

-Fr. Pedro Arrupe via Shelly F.

Nothing is more practical than finding God…than falling in love

Posted on January 9, 2013 In Quotations, Uncategorized
permalink

My Year in Photos (2012)

January 7, 2013

Instead of writing up a lengthy overview of my last year, I decided to work through my flickr account – something I update regularly – and pull out photos that remind me of last year. Here are some of my favorite memories and photos from the last 12 months. (Maybe next time I’ll make a limit for the amount of photos I can post, but not only was it hard to decide, I literally just had so much fun going through them all that it was hard to stop!)

The Daniels Family 5

Continue Reading…

In Blog Entries
permalink

Plenty of Room at the Inn: The Nativity Scene Resurrected | On Being

December 24, 2012

Plenty of Room at the Inn: The Nativity Scene Resurrected | On Being

We must always be attentive to the edges of our own storytelling. Attractive as it may be to children, and lodged as it may be upon the portrayed scenes of religious Christmas cards, it is simply incorrect to think that Mary and Joseph were forced into a stable. They found shelter in the kindness of a family, presumably Joseph’s kin, in his traditional homeland of Bethlehem. This kindness was so ordinary, so expected, so taken for granted that Luke, the gentle evangelist, did not even make mention of the family whose home was used for what we consider to be the birthing of a godchild to confused parents.

Read more Plenty of Room at the Inn: The Nativity Scene Resurrected | On Being.

In Blog Entries
permalink

Mary’s Magnificat and ‘I am a thought in God.’

December 23, 2012

Magnificat

by Macha Chmakoff

Magnificat

The magnificat is beautiful and celebratory song. It is known as the magnificat, because that is the opening word of Mary’s famous song in Latin. In Greek it is Megalunei, which means to magnify, grow, enlarge! It is thought to be one of the earliest Christian hymns ever recorded and it is one of four found in the Gospel of Luke. It is the subject of much art throughout history and composers have loved to set music to the words: most notably Vivaldi and Johann Sebastian Bach.

For most of us, our experience of the announcement of a Child’s birth is cause for excitement. Even mores with Mary – the birth of Jesus, foretold by Gabriel is shocking news that causes the Singer song-writer in Mary to break out into a powerful number.

Just like her belly pregnant with the Son of God, she says her soul is growing, getting bigger because of what God has chosen to do through her. Continue Reading…

In Uncategorized
permalink
NeuYear_500x500_close2

The Moleskine of calendars @NeuYear (Review and 40% Discount)

December 22, 2012

I am a big fan of Moleskine – and Moleskine-like – notebooks. High-quality “analog” ways of note-taking, planning and sketching are where it is at for me. So you can imagine my delight when I learned about Jesse Philips NeuYear Calendars. After receiving mine for review I can say it truly is as she said “the moleskine of calendars.”

I received this beautiful planning calendar a couple weeks back and am loving it. It’s on high-quality heavy paper, the colors are lovely and the front of the calendar has all of the days running horizontal, and the back is laid-out vertically. So you have options! Finally, the fact that it has no gaps between the months and your whole year can be seen at once makes ministry planning (or any other kind of planning for that matter) much easier.

Check out the image gallery: Continue Reading…

In DIY, Reviews ,
permalink

A Christian community is evangelized in order to evangelize.
A light is lit
in order to give light.
A candle is not lit to be put under a bushel, said Christ.
It is lit and put up high
in order to give light.

That is what a true community is like.

A community is a group of men and women
who have found the truth in Christ and in his gospel, and who follow the truth
and join together to follow it more strongly.

It is not just an individual conversion, but a community conversion.
It is a family that believes,
a group that accepts God.

In the group, each one finds that the brother or sister is a source of strength
and that in moments of weakness they help one another and, by loving one another and believing,
they give light and example.

The preacher no longer needs to preach,
for there are Christians who preach by their own lives. I said once and I repeat today
that if, unhappily, some day they silence our radio and don’t let us write our newspaper,
each of you who believe
must become a microphone, a radio station,
a loudspeaker,
not to talk, but to call for faith.

I am not afraid that our faith may depend
only on the archbishop’s preaching; I don’t think I’m that important.

I believe that this message,
which is only a humble echo of God’s word, enters your hearts,
not because it is mine,
but because it comes from God.

Oscar Romer – OCTOBER 29, 1978

A Light Is Lit in Order to Give Light (Romero)

Posted on December 21, 2012 In Quotations
permalink

The Shootings, With a “What?,” and a “Yes” – Luke 3:10-17

December 16, 2012

This is the message I gave at meeting for worship this morning:

And the crowds asked him, ‘What then should we do?’ In reply he said to them, ‘Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.’ Even tax-collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.’ Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages’ (Luke 1:10-14).

Shootings

This has been a hard week. A terrible week. Things have happened this week that should not have happened. No mother, no father, no grandparent and no child should experience the kinds of things we have seen this week.

On Tuesday, 60 gunshots rang out where 3 people – following the normal routine of Christmas shopping, in a typical setting – a mall, died in Portland. Two were killed point blank and the shooter took his own life.

On Wednesday, there were two instances of students bringing guns to school, one at Evergreen High School and the other at Skyview – both schools in Clark County.

And on Friday, we have all heard the devastation that took place in CT, when a 20 year-old man who was believed to be mentally ill, killed his own mother, and then went on a shooting spree at an elementary school.

And that’s this week. There have been 6 mass shootings in America this year. This is terrible. It is scary. And it is enraging. Continue Reading…

In Sermons
permalink

No one can celebrate
a genuine Christmas
without being truly poor.
The self-sufficient, the proud,
those who, because they have
everything, look down on others,
those who have no need
even of God–for them there
will be no Christmas.
Only the poor, the hungry,
those who need someone
to come on their behalf,
will have that someone.
That someone is God.
Emmanuel. God-with-us.
Without poverty of spirit
there can be no abundance of God.

-Oscar Romero

Romero on Christmas

Posted on December 12, 2012 In Quotations
permalink