Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 18A, September 10, 2017; The Rev. Pamela L.Werntz
Romans 13:8-14 Love is the fulfilling of the law.
Matthew 18:15-20 If two of you agree…about anything you ask, it will be done for you.
O God of love, grant us the wisdom, the strength and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.
Those of you who have heard me preach, know that I frequently offer alternative translations of Biblical passages as a way of helping us get out from under the heavy rubble of Christian doctrine, burdensome dogma, that can be the weights around God’s ankles. I never want us to be putting on weights around God’s ankles. If Theresa of Avila is right that, “Christ has no hands but our hands,” I’d add that God has no ankles but our ankles, and we must not be weighing one another down, but encouraging one another to be light on our feet, ready to move, able to be swift to love. That seems especially critical in a time of wildfires, floods, high winds, hurricanes, and earthquakes, of devastation and suffering around our country and around the world. It seems especially critical in a culture where what passes for Christianity can have so little to do with the life and love of Jesus. Continue reading