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Dear People Whom God Loves, (Pharisees)  These too were with the Scribes in their encounter with the woman caught in the act of adultery. The Pharisees prided themselves in obeying every tiny prescription of the Mosaic Law.  They looked down on those who were not as “good” as they were.  They separated themselves from those […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, If our rigid mindset will allow us, the Bible will often turn upside down the way we look at life, religion, people, and politics. I would like to begin with a quote from “Unexpected News” by Robert McAfee Brown: •    “religious people are often put down (Scribes, Pharisees, and church […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, Is it not true that in religion and politics we fight with each other instead of having a fruitful discussion?  A civil debate would be better than the antagonism, but is not deep enough.  In a debate we understandably want to win.  This means that we not only express our […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, To begin with, it will be helpful to look at words for “love” in different languages: In Greek, the word agape means giving love.  The word eros means desiring love. In Latin, the word caritas means giving love.  The word amor means desiring love. In English, the problem is that […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, We have seen how Jesus was personally aware of our human struggle.  His own human struggle fostered his ability to empathize and understand the human struggles of others.  This human awareness enables us to gradually embrace more and more different kinds of people. We will now look at the Pharisees […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, Entering the reign of God  is becoming more and more divinized . . . in other words, being “gifted” (remember it is a free, unearned gift from Love) with more and more God-likeness.  What is God like?  To be God means to be self-emptying love.  Listen to what the Apostle […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, We now turn to the third temptation of Jesus.  The devil takes him to the top of the temple and tells Jesus that he should throw himself down.  The devil quotes scripture.  “God will send his angels to protect you so that you will not be hurt.” Why would this […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, We come now to a second temptation of Jesus.  The devil offers him all the kingdoms of the world with all the wealth and power that would bring.  I don’t know whether wealth and power were that attractive to Jesus.  Perhaps not.  But this could be a more subtle attraction.  […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, Worship is attacked (Amos) The prophet Amos challenges his people:  “repelling the needy at the gate…let justice prevail at the gate”.  “I hate, I spurn your feasts…your cereal offerings I will not accept nor consider your stall-fed peace offerings.” Jesus says in Matthew’s gospel, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”. Worship […]