Matthew 4:1-11“Many might assume that symbol means pretend or make-believe. But symbols aren’t pretend, they’re pointing to something real, something happening in the world. So that’s the first thing we need to get clear about. Fallen angel or symbol, the Devil is real...Satan names that which is working against God and God’s kingdom in the world.” - Richard Beck, Reviving Old Scratch “There are forces working against love and inclusion in the world, and some of those forces are at work in my own heart and mind Hate is the satan of love. Exclusion is the satan of inclusion. War is the satan of peace. Oppression is the satan of justice.Tearing down is the satan of building up. Competition is the satan of cooperation. Revenge is the satan of mercy. Harm is the satan of care. Hostility is the satan of reconciliation. There is a satan to the Kingdom of God.” - Richard Beck, Reviving Old Scratch“The problem with the devil is that we see him in the faces of those we hate.”- Richard Beck, Reviving Old Scratch“You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”- Anne Lamott “Baptism had given Jesus the clear assurance that he was God’s well-loved Son, and that the Father was deeply pleased with him. Is Jesus, however, really God’s unique Son, and is he really pleasing to the Father? If he has any questions at all, transformed rocks will answer these questions immediately...Jesus is tempted to go beyond baptism to a remarkable ‘deeper’ experience. These are the dynamics of Jesus’ first temptation.”- Frederick Bruner “In this temptation Jesus experiences one of the most surprising sources of radical evil in the world: the perverse use of Scripture...Jesus’ main first-century opponents throughout the Gospel - the scribal Bible teachers and the separatist, Bible-believing Pharisees - warn us that a mere Bible zeal, uninformed by or uncentered on the biblical Christ can minister death.” - Frederick Bruner “When people begin to be zealous in religion, Satan hurries them into bigotry and intemperate hearts.”- Matthew Henry"Jesus must never be regarded as one Word among others. He is the Word to which all other inspired words point. And whatever else we take this to mean, it implies that the revelation of God in Christ, thematically centered on the cross, must never be compromised by anything else we find in Scripture.”- Greg Boyd“The third temptation is the temptation to make our work our God. This is the most powerful and subtle of all temptations. Jesus’ work as Messiah is to win the world. This work can now be done if he will just bow one knee...Jesus must have felt this temptation; otherwise it would not have been called a temptation. The love of the world is one meaning not only of Jesus’ ministry, as we know, but of God the Father’s as well (‘God so loved the world…’) But, and this is a crucial point, Jesus’ love for persons is a love in obedience to a ruling love...Jesus is ruled by a love higher than the immediate situation, higher even than the other person and that is love for God.”- Frederick Bruner “Love looks like weakness in the world...But it’s through the weakness of love that God’s power is revealed...Love doesn’t dominate us. Love interrupts us. Jesus rejected the strategies of Satan on the mountain to embrace the tactics of love: healing the sick; preaching the good news to the poor; welcoming the unclean; lifting up the oppressed. Jesus didn’t conquer, dominate, and control. Jesus invaded and interrupted.”- Richard Beck, Reviving Old Scratch“May God bless us with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that we may live deep within our hearts.”- Franscican Blessing

Matthew 4:1-11“Many might assume that symbol means pretend or make-believe. But symbols aren’t pretend, they’re pointing to something real, something happening in the world. So that’s the first thing we need to get clear about. Fallen angel or symbol, the Devil is real...Satan names that which is working against God and God’s kingdom in the world.” - Richard Beck, Reviving Old Scratch “There are forces working against love and inclusion in the world, and some of those forces are at work in my own heart and mind Hate is the satan of love. Exclusion is the satan of inclusion. War is the satan of peace. Oppression is the satan of justice.Tearing down is the satan of building up. Competition is the satan of cooperation. Revenge is the satan of mercy. Harm is the satan of care. Hostility is the satan of reconciliation. There is a satan to the Kingdom of God.” - Richard Beck, Reviving Old Scratch“The problem with the devil is that we see him in the faces of those we hate.”- Richard Beck, Reviving Old Scratch“You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”- Anne Lamott “Baptism had given Jesus the clear assurance that he was God’s well-loved Son, and that the Father was deeply pleased with him. Is Jesus, however, really God’s unique Son, and is he really pleasing to the Father? If he has any questions at all, transformed rocks will answer these questions immediately...Jesus is tempted to go beyond baptism to a remarkable ‘deeper’ experience. These are the dynamics of Jesus’ first temptation.”- Frederick Bruner “In this temptation Jesus experiences one of the most surprising sources of radical evil in the world: the perverse use of Scripture...Jesus’ main first-century opponents throughout the Gospel - the scribal Bible teachers and the separatist, Bible-believing Pharisees - warn us that a mere Bible zeal, uninformed by or uncentered on the biblical Christ can minister death.” - Frederick Bruner “When people begin to be zealous in religion, Satan hurries them into bigotry and intemperate hearts.”- Matthew Henry"Jesus must never be regarded as one Word among others. He is the Word to which all other inspired words point. And whatever else we take this to mean, it implies that the revelation of God in Christ, thematically centered on the cross, must never be compromised by anything else we find in Scripture.”- Greg Boyd“The third temptation is the temptation to make our work our God. This is the most powerful and subtle of all temptations. Jesus’ work as Messiah is to win the world. This work can now be done if he will just bow one knee...Jesus must have felt this temptation; otherwise it would not have been called a temptation. The love of the world is one meaning not only of Jesus’ ministry, as we know, but of God the Father’s as well (‘God so loved the world…’) But, and this is a crucial point, Jesus’ love for persons is a love in obedience to a ruling love...Jesus is ruled by a love higher than the immediate situation, higher even than the other person and that is love for God.”- Frederick Bruner “Love looks like weakness in the world...But it’s through the weakness of love that God’s power is revealed...Love doesn’t dominate us. Love interrupts us. Jesus rejected the strategies of Satan on the mountain to embrace the tactics of love: healing the sick; preaching the good news to the poor; welcoming the unclean; lifting up the oppressed. Jesus didn’t conquer, dominate, and control. Jesus invaded and interrupted.”- Richard Beck, Reviving Old Scratch“May God bless us with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that we may live deep within our hearts.”- Franscican Blessing

Matthew 17:1-9Exodus 24:12-18Chabod (Hebrew for glory) means “weight,” “substance,” real substance. “Glory,” in the Hebrew, has the connotation of being the source of substance.1 Samuel 4:1-111 Kings 18:20-24Well, I’d like to suggest that this scene offers us a valuable witness to the theological process which is at work in the development of the Hebrew scriptures: the theological power of the crisis of confidence which goes along with the collapse of the sacred. At the beginning we have a sacred follower of God, which can shine alongside another sacred religion, but whose sacrifices are more effective, whose God is more powerful, and whose capacity to unite people for a sacred war is greater. Then we have all that undone. The still small voice says much more than it seems to: it says that God is not a rival to Baal, that God is not to be found in the appearances of sacred violence.Elijah, when he entered into rivalry with the prophets of Baal became one of them, because God is not to be found in such circuses, nor in the murders which go along with them. At the end of his un-deceiving, Elijah is more a follower of God, less of a shaman, less of a sacrificer, because God is not like the gods, not even so as to show himself superior to them. The cave of Horeb was, for Elijah, the theological space for a blush.James Alison, “Faith Beyond Resentment”O God, glorious and faithful,to those who seek you with a sincere heartyou reveal the beauty of your face.Strengthen us in faithto embrace the mystery of the cross,and open our hearts to its transfiguring power;that, clinging in love to your will for us,we may follow the path of discipleshipas followers of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Matthew 17:1-9Exodus 24:12-18Chabod (Hebrew for glory) means “weight,” “substance,” real substance. “Glory,” in the Hebrew, has the connotation of being the source of substance.1 Samuel 4:1-111 Kings 18:20-24Well, I’d like to suggest that this scene offers us a valuable witness to the theological process which is at work in the development of the Hebrew scriptures: the theological power of the crisis of confidence which goes along with the collapse of the sacred. At the beginning we have a sacred follower of God, which can shine alongside another sacred religion, but whose sacrifices are more effective, whose God is more powerful, and whose capacity to unite people for a sacred war is greater. Then we have all that undone. The still small voice says much more than it seems to: it says that God is not a rival to Baal, that God is not to be found in the appearances of sacred violence.Elijah, when he entered into rivalry with the prophets of Baal became one of them, because God is not to be found in such circuses, nor in the murders which go along with them. At the end of his un-deceiving, Elijah is more a follower of God, less of a shaman, less of a sacrificer, because God is not like the gods, not even so as to show himself superior to them. The cave of Horeb was, for Elijah, the theological space for a blush.James Alison, “Faith Beyond Resentment”O God, glorious and faithful,to those who seek you with a sincere heartyou reveal the beauty of your face.Strengthen us in faithto embrace the mystery of the cross,and open our hearts to its transfiguring power;that, clinging in love to your will for us,we may follow the path of discipleshipas followers of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Matthew 17:1-9Exodus 24:12-18Chabod (Hebrew for glory) means “weight,” “substance,” real substance. “Glory,” in the Hebrew, has the connotation of being the source of substance.1 Samuel 4:1-111 Kings 18:20-24Well, I’d like to suggest that this scene offers us a valuable witness to the theological process which is at work in the development of the Hebrew scriptures: the theological power of the crisis of confidence which goes along with the collapse of the sacred. At the beginning we have a sacred follower of God, which can shine alongside another sacred religion, but whose sacrifices are more effective, whose God is more powerful, and whose capacity to unite people for a sacred war is greater. Then we have all that undone. The still small voice says much more than it seems to: it says that God is not a rival to Baal, that God is not to be found in the appearances of sacred violence.Elijah, when he entered into rivalry with the prophets of Baal became one of them, because God is not to be found in such circuses, nor in the murders which go along with them. At the end of his un-deceiving, Elijah is more a follower of God, less of a shaman, less of a sacrificer, because God is not like the gods, not even so as to show himself superior to them. The cave of Horeb was, for Elijah, the theological space for a blush.James Alison, “Faith Beyond Resentment”O God, glorious and faithful,to those who seek you with a sincere heartyou reveal the beauty of your face.Strengthen us in faithto embrace the mystery of the cross,and open our hearts to its transfiguring power;that, clinging in love to your will for us,we may follow the path of discipleshipas followers of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Matthew 17:1-9Exodus 24:12-18Chabod (Hebrew for glory) means “weight,” “substance,” real substance. “Glory,” in the Hebrew, has the connotation of being the source of substance.1 Samuel 4:1-111 Kings 18:20-24Well, I’d like to suggest that this scene offers us a valuable witness to the theological process which is at work in the development of the Hebrew scriptures: the theological power of the crisis of confidence which goes along with the collapse of the sacred. At the beginning we have a sacred follower of God, which can shine alongside another sacred religion, but whose sacrifices are more effective, whose God is more powerful, and whose capacity to unite people for a sacred war is greater. Then we have all that undone. The still small voice says much more than it seems to: it says that God is not a rival to Baal, that God is not to be found in the appearances of sacred violence.Elijah, when he entered into rivalry with the prophets of Baal became one of them, because God is not to be found in such circuses, nor in the murders which go along with them. At the end of his un-deceiving, Elijah is more a follower of God, less of a shaman, less of a sacrificer, because God is not like the gods, not even so as to show himself superior to them. The cave of Horeb was, for Elijah, the theological space for a blush.James Alison, “Faith Beyond Resentment”O God, glorious and faithful,to those who seek you with a sincere heartyou reveal the beauty of your face.Strengthen us in faithto embrace the mystery of the cross,and open our hearts to its transfiguring power;that, clinging in love to your will for us,we may follow the path of discipleshipas followers of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,one God, forever and ever. Amen.

The Compassionate GodJason Butler

The Compassionate GodJason Butler

The Compassionate GodJason Butler

The Compassionate GodJason Butler