The (Lieben)GOOD LIFE

Does the Book of Revelation contradict the claim that God is love?  This is one of the questions we will be wrestling with in my course on the Book of Revelation as we patiently read through what is a complex and perplexing text. Throughout the history of its interpretation, on occasion students of the book have come to the conclusion that the notion that God is fundamentally loving is irreconcilable with message and imagery of John's Apocalypse (this is another name for the Book of Revelation), especially in Revelation 6-20.  Interestingly, their are two bookends, or framing devices (more technically known as  inclusios ) in Revelation that seem to suggest that the book is ultimately about God's love. The first inclusio can be found in Revelation 1:4-8 / 22:12-21; the second framing device is located in the message to the first of the seven churches and the last of the seven churches in Revelation 2-3.  Inclusio 1: Revelation 1:4-8 / 22:12-21 In the opening greeti...

* From David Lyle Jeffrey,  Luke (The Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible), pgs. 150-151) The theme of the conjoined commandment to love God in a total, all-encompassing way, and out of that to love the neighbor as oneself, was regarded by medieval writers as one single and basic rule for the Christian life. They referred to it as the law of love. There is much biblical warrant for this compression...The good Samaritan story casts a practical light on the love of God for the kosmon ("world") (John 3:16), which those who reciprocate his love are called to imitate at many levels. There is a polyvalent aspect to the good Samaritan, who reminds us by his action that on the biblical definition, "God is love" (1 John 4:16) is a wider sense than might occur to us. Since Jesus himself is the "image of the Father" (2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15; 3:10; Heb. 1:3), what he is teaching us in such passages is primary theology, intensifying what he has already told his ...

1 Peter 2.2-10 Psalm 31.1-5, 15-16 Acts 7.55-60 John 14.1-14   Fifth Sunday of Easter: Redeemed to Be Priests?   Prayer of Invocation   Father, by Your Spirit  enable us know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way,   the truth, and the life, so that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Sermon I’ve never been to the Louvre in Paris, and I’ve never seen the Mona Lisa in person. But I’ve talked to people that have, and they’ve told me that it is kind of disappointing; there’s a lot of build up, long lines and all,  but in the end it’s just a  small portrait of a lady who frankly is kind of unattractive and looks pretty sad. Friends who have come from out of state to see first hand the lore of the Alamo have said they were surprised by how small it was, and confu...

According to Schmemann, our distorted views of what life is for, of what the world is for, derive from an improper understanding of what a human being is for: "The first, the basic definition of man [read humankind] is that he is  the priest . He stands in the center of the world and unifies it in his act of blessing God, of both receiving the world from God and offering it to God--and by filling the world with this eucharist [thanksgiving], he transforms his life, the one that he receives from the world, into life in God, into communion with him. The world was created as the 'matter', the material of one all-embracing eucharist, and man was created as the priest of this cosmic sacrament." (pg.22)  Schmemann looks to the Garden as the archetype for how humans abandoned their first and basic calling as priests: "The fruit of that one tree...was unlike every other fruit in the Garden: it was not offered as a gift to man. Not given, not blessed by God, ...

Some interesting reflections on the influence of the Bible in art and literature from my favorite modern author, Marilynne Robinson.