Month: July 2013

Don: What is the relationship between the faith community and the individual, in terms of the individual’s spiritual need and growth? To put it another way: How important is it for an individual to be part of a faith community in order to have a deep spiritual life? It is not commonly thought that one…

Don:  Matthew 18 begins with the question: Who will be greatest in the kingdom of heaven? This is really a question about how authority should be determined and managed in a community. Jesus replied that childlike innocence—a desire not to seek authority—is a key element in producing a strongly bonded community. Mutual deference is a…

Matthew 18:21-35 Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be…

Don: On one level, the parable of the prodigal son is about the relationship between god and man, about god’s graciousness, and about the open arms of god. Without undermining this face-value meaning of the story, at a deeper level we may see it as a story about Wo/man’s relationship with herself and himself. It…