Tell stories about the world that is still possible. Tell stories that Jesus told, about lost sheep found, about generous widows who gave their all, about people who encountered healing and didn’t have to pay, about a table wide enough for all. Tell our children these stories, so they will dare to hope.
Category Archives: Protest
Joy
On the second Sunday of Advent, a sermon about John the Baptist and deep subversive joy. What if, in these anxious days, what we really need to repent is the meagerness of our hope?
The Good Shepherd and Jesus’ Vision of Power
This, friends, is the radical dream of Jesus: that his followers would exercise a different kind of power. Jesus imagined a world where power was exercised differently, where we understood power differently. In the Kingdom of God, or as Dr. King translated, in the beloved community, power is measured in compassion, in healing. Power is measured by justice.
Pride and Sacrifice
That is the other key difference in the stories. When Jesus died, the human authorities thought they had won, but they didn’t have the last word. God had the last word. The resurrection is a witness to the power of God’s love even over the machinations of death. Even when the world is loveless, even when the world would sacrifice some of our siblings, God will conquer. God will have the last word. As people who follow the loving, liberating, life giving God, it is our work to take the knives out of the hands of those who think they are enacting justice. And God takes pride when we keep on marching.
Mike Angell 