Easter Embodied

My wife Kelli and I went to church on Easter. Actually we went to two churches because we hold separate memberships. But when we regrouped at home, we opted to fill the day with a trip to the local mountains with Buber the Dog. What a day for it too! At first it was a bit pointless as we drove to escape the exurban sprawl. Eventually we realized we may as well drop by an old ranch that Kelli has ties to. And then after that it was just a matter of cruising. Why not take a different road? Where does this road go, anyway? We’d never driven out to the north. It barely appears on the map. It’s not as smooth as the main road a few miles east. But it was Easter Sunday and the road beckoned.

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The Unholy Family of Christmas (Part 3)

You needn’t be a synagogue or church regular to have heard of Rahab.  She has made her way into cultural lore as a kind of archetype of the whore, the seductress, the escort, the “pretty woman.”  But has she ever been part of the Christmas story as you’ve heard it or told it?

Matthew, for his money, wants Rahab in the Christmas story.  She rescues it from the smooth stone kind of story that fits civilization’s etiquette.  She lures us into a different kind of story.  We stammer a bit when we come to her in this “holy” story as we explain why “Her Unholiness” is there at all.  So why did Matthew clearly relish her being in the story as he told it?

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Austerity?! Let's Talk about Abundance for All

By now we see that all the talk about austerity in these economic hard times does not apply to the wealthiest whose wealth has increased as their taxes remain low  It does not apply to military spending or the budgets of the intelligence community.  It does not apply to the bankers in the too-big-to-fail banks. It does apply to those with no jobs, low-paying jobs, and insecure jobs. It does apply to students in state universities, to people without health insurance, and to many who can no longer self-identify as middle class.

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