Justice and mercy and faith

6 Responses

  1. Kathy Hartley says:

    Wow! This is so powerful. I was particularly struck by your statement that we Americans are poorer for our comforts. I will be thinking about this for a l-o-n-g time.

  2. Denyce says:

    Thank you for sharing. It was just what I needed to read first thing on Monday morning. A great reminder to work harder at focusing on the Most High, Sovereign God as I go forward into the week and away from the complacency of a fairly typical Sunday morning worship experience.

  3. Carin Delfs says:

    Thanks Scott for your reminder that we are too used to resting in our comfort zone here in the Episcopal Church. I too believe we must learn to extend extreme hospitality and truely preach the Good News.

  4. Jon says:

    To be fair, fatalism is probably closer to the Gospel than superstitions since it can be a perverted way of confessing that Jesus is Lord and ultimately in control of what happens in the world. Yes, God’s will will prevail when God has decided that something must be, but most of the time we’re dealing with matters God doesn’t positively will any particular answer, where God permits many different answers even though some are better than others. Being good and trying to improve each day are similarly a case of being part right since we should pay attention to righteousness, but we also need to remember and confess some more modern variation on “I am a worthless slave. I’ve only done what my master required” or something to pass the credit on to God.

  5. Rebecca Miller says:

    We often wonder why our little church in S. Georgia is not growing like we would like. We are not welcoming and we offer comfort in the place of a call to spiritual growth. Your stories of pilgrimage has reminded me that there are refugees in my own back yard. People that struggle in their own exile from family, friends, sanity and hope. So much to do. Thanks for the powerful reminder that all is possible.

  6. Very interesting. Kenya, of course, is part of GAFCON, so they’re supposedly not in communion with us. I’m very glad that you were nevertheless not only welcome to participate in worship but also welcomed into a priest’s home as a colleague and guest afterwords. Yes, we do need more challenging preaching, including preaching that engages with difficult parts of the Bible, in TEC. Do you know what lectionary the Anglican Church of Kenya uses, so that they ended up with this particular passage on a Sunday? The 1662 BCP’s modified lecto continua for the Daily Office and the short Epistles and Gospels for the Eucharist? They do have a modern language rite for the Eucharist, I’ve seen it used in PECUSA.