sdaughtry's blog

Today’s assigned readings from the Bible are particularly difficult, especially in light of all the news about Wall Street and our economic woes. But when Jesus told this story from the Gospel of Matthew about money and investing, he wasn’t talking about money at all.

Here is how we know. The whole arc of this part of Matthew (chapters 23-25) is that Jesus is saying: True religion is about compassion; if you think it’s something else, you’ve missed the point.

[Some photos from today are here!]

As I write this short letter, I’m sitting in Nazareth, in Israel, in the town (as Christian tradition holds) where Jesus grew up, where the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would bear the Messiah, where Jesus grew up, and where Jesus was nearly thrown off a cliff by his hometown neighbors. Today we looked at cave homes that archaeologists have dated to the first century, when Jesus would have lived. Two different digs have revealed much about the lives of people in a small, traditional Jewish town of about four hundred people around 0 AD.

In yesterday’s post, I wrote a throwaway phrase about “the role Christians here often play, serving as the mediators between Jews and Muslims.”

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.”

Ephesians 2:13-14

“Dying is not extraneous to life; it is a part of the mystery. And you do not understand life until you stand under death. Yet both sides of the mystery must be experienced and trusted. The Eastern religions speak of the yin and yang of things; nature religions simply speak of darkness and light; the Jewish people speak of slavery and deliverance; we Christians speak of death and resurrection. But we are all pointing to God’s universal pattern of falling/failing and transformation.

I am traveling in the Middle East, journeying in Israel and the West Bank and Jordan, for two weeks. The trip, led by Phoebe Griswold under the auspices of the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, takes us to congregations, schools, and hospitals run by the Episcopal Church here in Israel/Palestine.

Friends,

I'm excited to be heading back to the Holy Land in just a few days, on October 15. This trip will focus primarily on visiting congregations, schools, and hospitals run by the Diocese of Jerusalem.

The trip is sponsored through the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, as well as St. Paul's K Street in Washington DC.

We'll stay at the Guest House at St.

Click here for today's sermon: 'We Build the Wall to Keep Us Free?'

As an added note, check out the libretto from Anais Mitchell's HADESTOWN, esp. the song 'Why We Build the Wall.' Thanks again to Vernon Simmons for reminding me and for sharing the music.