Posts by Kris Rocke
Unity Without Enemies?
My favorite scientific experiment is the one conducted by Mark Twain. He placed a cat and a dog in a cage, and to his amazement they became friends. Encouraged, he…
Read MoreSeeing the New Jerusalem
The poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, said, “That only which we have within, can we see without.” If we see hope, love and beauty “out there” it’s because we have those…
Read MoreResurrection Sunday
Christ is risen! This week we have tried to recover some of the shock of Holy Week and the truly odd narrative elements that are wildly liberating, but sometimes buried…
Read MoreHoly Saturday
Today the world falls silent. The psalmist says there is no speech and there are no words. And yet in that silence a voice goes out; a Word goes forth…
Read MoreGood Friday
In the Beginning, on the sixth day, on the very first Friday, God created humanity and called us “very good.” Today is another Friday. We call it Good Friday. Today,…
Read MoreMaundy Thursday
The result of these next four days ultimately becomes the hope of the world. But today, just today, I want to try and recover one of the most shocking aspects…
Read MoreInventing Scapegoats
We are approaching the Fifth Sunday of Lent. Things are heating up. This week Mary anoints Jesus with costly perfume. Judas (who will betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver,…
Read MoreSymbolic Universe
Friend and mentor, Dave Hillis, president of Leadership Foundations, tells the story from his days as a camp counselor when he was asked to lead a seminar for urban youth.…
Read MoreThe Mystery of Incarnation
Last week we heard Jesus’ first sermon. This week’s lectionary text keeps us in the same passage, but it focuses on the end of the sermon when things turn ugly.…
Read MoreAnointed for What?
Last week we witnessed Jesus’ first miracle (water becomes wine). It ends well. This week we hear Jesus’ first sermon. It ends horribly. His text is Isaiah 61:1-2a. His sermon…
Read MoreMercy or Sacrifice?
Whose sacrificial system is it?
Read MoreBrigands of the Lord
Three dimensions in a two-dimensional world.
Read MoreScandal
The real threat that Jesus exposes in this text is the hidden envy brewing in the disciples’ hearts.
Read MoreThe Stranger, Revealed
We too are blind.
Read MoreInduction to Reality
Remembering the body of Christ for a hurting world.
Read MoreAmong So Many
Eucharistic abundance in the Meal from Below.
Read MoreCome Away
Risking vulnerability through boundaries.
Read MoreSit Back and Relax Into Grace
That pesky mustard seed.
Read MoreSent How?
Is Matthew 28:19-20 the “Great Commission? Is it the text that should guide how we understand God’s mission? Could it be that the near canonization of the term has actually caused damage to our understanding of the Christian mission?
Read MoreThe Kiss of God
A few years ago I was sharing about my own experience of the risen Christ. I was speaking in parables and one young man urged me to “explain” myself more clearly. I was tempted to try. And then, in a flash of inspiration (sometimes my “inspirations” go terribly wrong), I paused for a moment and asked if he was married.
Read MoreTemple Cleansing or Temple Closing?
Jesus did not “cleanse the temple.” Sadly, most Bibles add this heading to the story. It is misleading.
Rather, Jesus closes it down! Better yet, he creates a new temple in its place – an abode of mercy that is himself. This is the heart of the Gospel!
Read MoreA Dazzling Secret
There is nothing quite so dangerous as trying to occupy the place of resurrection glory prematurely or falsely.
Throughout Mark’s Gospel, Jesus repeatedly tells his disciples not to mention his identity too soon. Theologians often refer to this as the “messianic secret.”
Read MoreDon’t Tell
Anthropologist Rene Girard and theologian Walter Wink have written extensively on how crowds are highly unstable and volatile socio-spiritual realities. They are more than the sum of their parts. They are easily moved, especially towards violence. This is why at every turn throughout the Gospels Jesus refuses to be the puppet of the crowd’s desire, which can one day shout “Hosanna, Hosanna,” and the next “Crucify him, crucify him.”
Read MoreHoly Everything
This week’s text is a reference to the story of “Jacob’s Ladder” in the Old Testament and the radical implications of the Incarnation.
Remember Jacob’s Ladder? Jacob stole his brother’s birthright and fled into the desert. Eventually he stopped running and fell asleep, exhausted. The heavens opened and he saw angels ascending and descending on the place he occupied. Celtic spirituality calls this sort of thing a “thin place…”
Read MoreBaptismal Blessing
We are familiar with the red-letter Bibles that highlight the words of Jesus. I’d like to see a blue letter edition that highlights the words of the Father. It wouldn’t take much ink. We only hear the voice of God the Father four times in the New Testament. In each case it is the voice of blessing. The Father’s economy of words serves only to magnify their meaning.
Read MoreLet It Be
She reminds us that transformation is not something that we can either will or work into existence – ever.
Read MoreAdvent Hope
It’s the third week of Advent and soon the “Word will become flesh.” We will hear the voice of an angel announce “peace on earth.” But let’s be clear, the pathway to peace is paved by the disruptive voice of the prophet.
Again this week we hear the voice of John the Baptist crying out in the wilderness.
Read MoreForgiveness
The master releases the servant.
Read MoreDazzled
Imagine that it’s 1633 and you are hearing for the first time that the sun does not revolve around the earth.
Read MoreDeficiencies
And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow…
some seeds fell on the path…
rocky ground… thorns… good soil.
(Matt. 13:1-9)
Manners of Mission
We embrace generosity, hospitality, simplicity, and vulnerability.
Read MoreThe Manner of Going
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Read MoreAll Flesh Is One
“I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.”
Read MoreWay, Truth, Life
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Read MoreMercy Gate
“Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.
(John 10:1-10)
Creation Through Forgiveness
When we think of creation as an event that happened a long time ago in a garden far, far away, we can easily forget that creation is the ongoing activity of God, here and now, made visible through the resurrection.
Read MoreMaundy Thursday
Jesus calls us friend today, knowing we will betray him tomorrow. If there is an order to salvation, this is it.
Read MoreLenten Blessings
God’s blessing is the sacrament of the present moment that redeems both past and future.
Read MoreYou’re Invited to Desire
“May the real I meet the real Thou.”
Read MoreThe Greatest Loser
The crucified ones of this world are helping us re-narrate the Law and the words of the Prophets to reclaim a Gospel of grace, mercy, and peace in a violent world.
Read MoreThe Enemy of Perfection
It’s about God wanting us to be fully human, and God knows that our enemies hold the key to our humanity.
Read MoreHave You Heard?
Rabbi Jesus, teach us to see through your eyes.
Read MoreA Solitary Light
Jesus reminds us that we are salt and light. These are twin gifts of our deepest vocation – to be human.
Read MoreBreaking Into Prison
Gospel freedom happens to us while we are still in prison.
Read More