1 Peter 4:3-4: For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousals, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. And in all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them . . . . Continue Reading »
Later in the service this morning, we will ordain two new deacons, Rick Schumaker and Brendan O’Donnell. Both have gone through a period of apprenticeship with our two deacons, and both have been elected by the congregation. But the ordination is no mere formality. Ordination is . . . . Continue Reading »
Solomon’s temple had windows, but they are mentioned only once, in 1 Kings 6:4. Ezekiel’s description of the visionary temple uses the word “window” twelve times. One can see out of, and look into, Solomon’s temple. From Ezekiel’s temple, Israel can . . . . Continue Reading »
The spies at Jericho are released through Rahab’s window. Then David escapes through a window from his wife’s rooms. Saul is the King of Jericho; David will return later to take the city. Then Paul too escapes through a window in a basket. He too is God’s spy, checking . . . . Continue Reading »
Isaiah 35 shares a number of fairly rare terms with Song of Songs 2. Both refer to the crocus or rose (Isaiah 35:1; Song of Songs 2:1). Both have people leaping (Isaiah 35:6; Song of Songs 2:8) and in both the leaping person is compared to a stag (Isaiah 35:6; Song of Songs 2:9). . . . . Continue Reading »
“Voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes!” says the excited bride in the Song of Songs 2:8. As the older commentators noted, this is redemptive history in a nutshell: First the voice, then the Lover in flesh. So long as the prophets speak, Israel knows that the Lover is . . . . Continue Reading »
The first verses of Song of Songs 2 repeatedly return to military imagery. The fact that there is a “battle standard” (2:4; cf. Numbers 1:52; 2:2, 3, 10, 17, 18, etc.) over the “house of wine” suggests that the feast is a victory feast as much as a love feast. . . . . Continue Reading »
Solid, opaque things cast shadows. Our presence is not confined to the solid and defined outline of our body. Our presence spreads out, casting a shadow and providing shade. That’s the phenomenological basis behind the Bible’s use of shade/shadow imagery. Shadows . . . . Continue Reading »
Robert Barron (in an essay in Sacramental Presence in a Postmodern Context ) writes of the “radical non-violence” in Thomas’s theory of casuality and especially of creation: “In any causal relationship between finite things, there is some sort of intrusion of one being upon . . . . Continue Reading »
Eckhart writes, “This image is the Son of the Father and I myself am this image and this image is wisdom.” It is a characteristic formulation: The Son of God is born in believers such that the Son and believer become “identical.” At the same time, Eckhart insists that . . . . Continue Reading »
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