Sword in the Fire

I love the Gospel of John.  If for no other reason, it is different.  Unlike the other three gospels, there is no birth story, no temptation, or no transfiguration.  In Orthodoxy, we read John in the lectionary during the Easter season.  The Gospel for Easter Sunday is John’s Prologue in Chapter 1.  This gives a clue as to why the Church thinks John was written.  The newly baptized experiencing their first Liturgy on Easter Sunday begin to read a new Gospel – the Gospel of John.  John himself proclaims his purpose for writing at the end of his book.  He wrote so that the reader would know that Jesus is the Son of God, and by trusting in Him, would have eternal life.  John is designed to bolster faith, perhaps in the face of heresy, for there were many false teachers who questioned the fullness of Jesus’ humanity and divinity.  Or perhaps, John is trying to protect us not from the heresy of the head, but of the heart. ...

This was originally published for the Anglican journal Forward in Christ The Bible - The Director’s Cut           There are a group of books of the Bible with an image problem.  It is as if some budget conscious movie editor kept cutting for the right length and content, leaving the scraps on the cutting room floor.  Then along comes the offended director, collecting each scrap together, compiling them for the curious, calling it the “director’s cut” for rabid fans.  These extra books are commonly known as the Apocrypha, and while not considered canonical by many Christians they are profitable and should not be ignored.               Many Bibles today do not have these books, and the ones that do have placed them in an appendix between the Testaments.  The English Bible Tradition originally contained these books, and from 1549 onwards the lectionary attached to the Book of Common Prayer contained l...

The first chapters of Judges overlap the ending of Joshua and set the stage for the remainder of the book.  The tribe of Judah becomes the new leader to drive out the rest of the Canaanites, and a familiar face from the sons of Judah appears once more.  Back in the wilderness, 12 spies were picked to scout out the land, and only two embraced the promise of God and the hope of victory.  The rejection of conquest by the majority relegated the people to 40 yrs of wandering, but the two faithful spies, Joshua and Caleb , became future leaders for the people of Israel.   The last years of Caleb ’s life mentioned in Joshua are recounted again in this first chapter.  Aged Caleb needs help conquering the last remaining bits of his inheritance, and seeks out a man of bravery with the promise of his daughter’s hand in marriage.  The man that steps forward from Caleb ’s tribe of Judah is Othniel.  Othniel appears a couple chapters later as the first judge men...

I stumbled onto this great poem by Fr. Lawrence Farley , and because of ongoing Sunday School preparation the book of Judges is almost always on my mind.  I hope you enjoy, and make sure to add Fr. Lawrence to your blog reader, and check out his books as well. Here’s to the Israelite Judges Here’s to the Israelite judges: lying facedown and forgotten, buried in the backpages, doomed to molder, their very names left unpronounced by all save German scholars who sit in towers of Teutonic irrelevance, scribbling unreadable tomes for the anaemic. They deserved better. Here’s to the Israelite judges: not old men who sit heavily on British benches, white wigs perched ridiculously on bald pates consulting books, handing out sentences, but young men, running furiously down foothills, their hot blood intent on their cold swords, shouting wildly to the wind about God and death and freedom, young men whose arms hugged their women hard and hoisted ...

There is a rumor, that north of this barren place exists a land lush with green rolling hills dotted with flowers, bird, and butterflies, flanked by large piney forests full of wild game and run through with streams and creeks.  The source of all this goodness is a river that gathers and spreads its fertile waters throughout the land. The old ones tell of a time that at the edge of this fertile plateau, the river tumbled off into a waterfall sharing the nourishment of this northern country with our own.  Some tyrant full of greed dammed the waters of this generous river, plugging off life from our little plot of earth.  Now we hovel in the sides of ditches, onetime creeks fed from above, sheltering ourselves from the elements, looking for a puddle of moisture to slack our constant thirst.   Rushing at us with panicked excitement, a horseman cries out for us to climb out of our trenches and run from these cracked beds.  He speaks of an unknown warrior ...

When Ancient Faith Radio interviewed me about my new book, I was asked about my favorites books in this mysterious group of Biblical writings.  I mentioned two, Sirach and the Maccabees.   My reason for choosing Maccabees is because it is action-packed.  There is fighting, intrigue, and heroism.  Men, women, and children are sacrificing their lives for their faith in God.  Maybe it's a man-thing but it is hard for me not to picture Chuck Norris when reading about the exploits of Judas Maccabeus.   In an off-hand comment, I mentioned my surprise that these books have never been made into a movie.  I didn't know he was an AFR fan, but Mel must have heard the interview.   Entertainment Weekly reported that Mel has decided to make a movie on the Maccabees. While Mel has had his problems lately, I welcome a movie.  No doubt, it will be violent and not for the kiddies , but these are stories that need to be known and told on a larger...