Marginal Christianity

  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:   Vocation and Destiny           I conclude our series on images of faith and discipleship in the first of the Narnia stories, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by noting Lewis’ portrayal of vocation and destiny of the four Pevensie children to be the kings and queens of Narnia.   He does this is several ways.           The first is to indicate that these children are the fulfillment of ancient prophecy.   The White Witch’s insistent questioning of the Turkish Delight-enchanted Edmund on the number and gender of his siblings is our first clue.           “You are sure there are just four of you?” she asked. “Two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve, neither more nor less?” and Edmund, with his mouth full of Turkish Delight, kept on saying, “Yes, I told you that before.” (37)  ...

Clerical Whispers Saturday, July 18, 2009 `Bishop of the slums' -- Dom Hélder Camara and Brazil's church of the poor This year marks the centennial of the birth and the tenth anniversary of the death of one of the most significant religious figures of the 20th century, an instigator of the liberation theology trend in Latin American Catholicism and a campaigner against military dictatorship: Dom Hélder Camara. Dom Hélder could have advanced himself to the position of cardinal and from there, who knows, possibly to the papacy itself. Instead, he stood for democracy in Brazil, despite threats to his life and certainly at the expense of his career. He represented the most extreme point that the Catholic hierarchy could go in standing with the poor in the tumultuous era following the Cuban Revolution and the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II). Remembering Dom Hélder Camara is poignant in these times when ...

John 3:1-17 3  There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a Jewish leader. 2  He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could do these miraculous signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3  Jesus answered, “I assure you, unless someone is born anew, it’s not possible to see God’s kingdom.” 4  Nicodemus asked, “How is it possible for an adult to be born? It’s impossible to enter the mother’s womb for a second time and be born, isn’t it?” 5  Jesus answered, “I assure you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. 6  Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7  Don’t be surprised that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’ 8  God’s Spirit blows wherever it wishes. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. It’s the same with everyone w...

As a follow up to my suggestions about Jesus’ “End of the World” discourse in Matthew 24, I offer today a reflection by New Testament Professor Tim Gombis on Mark’s version of this teaching by Jesus.   Enjoy! Living Between the End and the End: A Homily By timgombis (http://timgombis.com/) *Originally given at Midtown Christian Community, October 9, 2010. I’ve always been deathly afraid of passages like Mark 13.  I grew up in an evangelical culture that would read passages like Mark 13 as wild and woolly predictions of end-times cataclysms, assigning biblical significance to contemporary events.  Back in the 1980’s, the big fear was the Soviet Union and of course we all knew that America enjoyed Most Favored Nation status with God, so in some way biblical prophecies of gloom and doom were involved in current international relations.  “This passage right here in Revelation has to do with the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty; and this one in Matthew probably re...