Leviticus 16 describes the ingenious ritual from which our word “scapegoating” originated. On the Day of Atonement, a priest laid hands on an “escaping” goat, placing all the sins of the Jewish people from the previous year onto the animal. Then the goat was beaten with reeds and thorns andRead More
Take Your Place at the Table.
In Genesis we see the divine dance in an early enigmatic story (18:1-8). “The Lord” appears to Abraham as “three men.” Abraham and Sarah seem to see the Holy One in the presence of these three, and they bow before them and call them “my lord” (18:2-3 Jerusalem Bible). TheirRead More
God is a Dance.
There was a time when pub brawls broke out over the “Trinity”, the idea that God exists as a being in community; Three Persons in a Oneness of other-centered, self-giving love. If you have read The Shack, Cross Roads or Eve, you know that the Trinity is of central significanceRead More
The Performance Principle.
Religion in the second half of life is finally not a moral matter; it’s a mystical matter. You can’t keep making all of life a question of what you’re doing, your moral proficiency and perfection. Paul calls this approach “the Law”; I call it the performance principle. Almost all ofRead More
Love Is Who You Are.
Love is not really an action that you do. Love is what and who you are, in your deepest essence. Love is a place that already exists inside of you, but is also greater than you. That’s the paradox. It’s within you and yet beyond you. This creates a senseRead More