Podcast episodes
Season 3
Not Looking Hard Enough
The borderlands are a thin place. Gloria Anzaldúa says they're “a psychic, social, and cultural terrain that we inhabit, and that inhabits all of us.” She writes that while borders “are set up to define the places that are safe and unsafe, to distinguish us from them … ” a “borderland is a vague and undetermined place created by the emotional residue of an unnatural boundary … the prohibited and forbidden are its inhabitants.” So what does it mean when Jesus meets people in the borderlands? How are their identities changed? We explore that with the ten lepers today.
You Did Good, So What?
We had quite a week at SJPC last week. Not only did we prep for World Communion and Ian, but we also had an immigrant family show up on our doorstep, and we had a chance to care for them on Friday. It's easy to pat ourselves on the back for these kind of things, but in the gospel today, we're challenged to reconsider. Sometimes in our journey, we'll called just to do the things asked of us just because it's the thing we're supposed to do. However, when we do them, we can be amazed by the results.
09.18.22: Proper 25
So Jesus is totally scandalous here in Luke 16. Almost inconsistent. How do we celebrate someone who is literally dishonest (and, as said in the sermon, there's no way to get out of the "not right"-ness of the manager)? Well, it may be in the focus on the ends and a willingness to use whatever means available. We unfold that, with attention given to the complimentary Amos 8 passage as well.
When Jesus Gave an Escape Hatch
This morning comes one of the more difficult passages in the Gospels - we have to hate our families and ourselves to follow Jesus? Some of the issue is in translation, yes, but it's also an issue of intention: Jesus wants us to have a gut-check before we commit to what's in store. What if we saw ourselves and others and their precious, priceless hearts and souls the same way? We talk about that today.