Category: Christian Spirituality
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Religion and Relationship: The Call of Jesus to Authentic Faith
Characteristic of Jesus’s teaching on spiritual disciplines is his constant calling out of a crowd he calls “the hypocrites.” So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do … Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites … Whenever you fast, don’t be sad-faced like…
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The Spiritual Discipline of Giving to the Poor
Jesus doesn’t start his discussion of spiritual disciplines by trying to convince people to do them. He treats them as a given: these are things his listeners are already doing. We can see this clearly in the first discipline: So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites…
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Keeping Secrets and Finding Right Rewards: Jesus on Spiritual Disciplines
I remember years ago realizing that disciple and discipline share the same root. This sheds light on just what it MEANS to be a disciple. A disciple is a learner in a specific arena, a “discipline.” And a disciple is one who practices certain behaviors and habits, “disciplines,” in order to achieve a set result.…
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How to Be Perfect: Loving Our Enemies and Becoming Like God
Jesus gives up the game with this one. “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on…
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Justice According to Jesus, Part 2
You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. As for the one who wants to sue you and take away…
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Justice According to Jesus, Part 1
Jesus spends 3/5 of his moral teachings on three of the great commands in the ten commandments: Thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not bear false witness. He brings in the streams of oath-taking and divorce law to drive home the true nature of these three commands: oath-taking and divorce…
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The Power of “Neither” and Keeping Our Posts—After the Election 2016
On Tuesday during the US election I went to the zoo. It seemed appropriate. Also, it was a good way to not spend the day glued to my phone to see the results, as though obsessing all day long could hurry them up. Like many Canadians, I cared about the results of this particular election.…
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Now For the Not-Yet
I read a profound thing the other night—in a Charlie Brown cartoon, which is no surprise since I’m always reading profound things in the comics. Charlie Brown comes to Lucy’s psychiatric booth to declare that he is depressed. Lucy takes him up on a hill, shows him the vast horizon, and begins to ply him…
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Our Father
Once, a very long time ago, there was a garden. Six days of uproarious joy created it. Out of darkness came a Voice, and then light, galaxies spinning, earth and water, wings and running feet—life. There was nothing, and then there was colour: green trees, blue seas, shimmering grey mists. And a garden. Then the…
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The Way of Reconciliation: How Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment
Jesus is relentless in his examination of anger: its roots, its ugliness, the damage it does, and the guilt we incur because of it. Along the way he continually underlines the fact of judgment. We might be tempted to see “the judgment of God” as something arbitrary or cruel, but the truth is that because…