Sometime during the mid-eighteenth century, a Jesuit priest in France named Jean-Pierre de Caussade wrote a book that is sometimes called Abandonment to Divine Providence but is more popularly known in English as The Sacrament of the Present Moment. I’m going to begin this post with a quotation from that book, because its vision of … Continue reading Acts 27:13-28:44 The Story Ends
Poor Paul. He gets stuck in prison for two years, and Felix, the governor, who is a rather feckless person, seems to be in no hurry to resolve his case. So Paul, and our story, comes to a grinding halt. Like I said, the end of Acts is a bit of an anticlimax. But since … Continue reading Acts 24:1-27 Resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous
Simon of Samaria, known to the Christian tradition as Simon Magus, is one of those rare characters in scripture who have a particular sin named after them, in this case, the sin of simony. Simony usually means the buying and selling of church offices, but here at the beginning it is nothing more than the … Continue reading Acts 8:9-25 Simon Magus
Jesus issues a duo warning in this passage. First, when you fail (and we are all bound to fail), don’t lead anyone after you in your failure. Second, the surest guard against failure is the encouragement and forgiveness of community. If we are to accept the schema of self that I’ve talked about previously in … Continue reading Luke 17:1-10 We Will Find Ourselves in Communities of Forgiveness and Grace
I was sitting with other clergy in a Bible Study, and we were arguing about this passage. After awhile I became indifferent to the argument, and began to think about the dishonest wealth that I had received in my life. I took out a sketch book and wrote this poem for my wife: Eternal Habitations … Continue reading Luke 16:1-18 Eternal Habitations
KPB Stevens 