For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been obsessed. Pretty much every spare moment I’ve had has been spent studying, reading about, and wrestling with a particular story from the Hebrew Bible: Jehu’s rebellion in 2 Kings 9-10. A strange thing for me to be obsessing over, I know. It’s a violent mess of a … Continue reading Stories Matter.
As the lectionary continues its journey through Genesis, I’m continuing to spend time with some of the challenging stories of the Patriarchs, the faithful (yet wholly dysfunctional) first family of Western Religion. Two weeks ago, we saw how God stepped into the very messy situation surrounding Abraham and Sarah’s scheming to get Abraham an heir … Continue reading Seen (An Integral Reading of Genesis 32.22-32)
As regular readers may know, I’ve been making a point lately of using the assigned readings from the Hebrew Bible for my lectio divina practice. Because these texts often raise difficult questions, I’ve been intentional about engaging them within an integral framework to get as expansive a reading as I can. (I’ve included a brief … Continue reading Bound / Freed (An Integral Reading of Genesis 22)
I wrote yesterday that I wanted to be intentional about spending time with the daily readings from the Hebrew Bible. Well, today’s is a doozy, filled with both the inspiring and deeply problematic elements we expect from these old stories. God has promised Abraham (at this point in the story, Abraham and Sarah are still … Continue reading Mercy in the Mess (A reflection on Genesis 16)
Yesterday we celebrated the feast of Pentecost, the celebration and appropriation of the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out on Jesus’ disciples. My reflections yesterday centered on the theme of freedom: The Holy Spirit frees us from spiritual slavery, from bondage to fear and everything else that holds us back. But, as I’ve noted … Continue reading #Blessed (A Reflection on Matthew 5.1-12)
Matthew Root 