[NOTE: When I was reading the lessons for today, I couldn't think of a more relevant message than the one I wrote back in 2019, right after today's feast. So here's a re-post of that piece. Enjoy!] -- As I was writing my post for the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels the other … Continue reading “I Saw Satan Fall like Lightning” (Further thoughts on Revelation 12.7-12) (Repost)
At the end of my series ‘Setting our Stories Straight,’ I suggested that of the biblical idea of Shalom, or ‘peace’ — understood as wholeness, integrity, and the presence of healthy, reciprocal relationships — could be the best way of understanding the internal goals of Christian faith. Inspired by the thought of theologians like Walter … Continue reading Standing for Shalom: Peace as the Heart of God
The resurrection stories in the New Testament are not big, boisterous stories, shouting the news of the resurrection from the rooftops. Instead, they are tentative stories, involving a lot of uncertainty, questioning, fear, and vulnerability. In that way, they're well-suited for our times. For we too are living in a season of uncertainty and fear, … Continue reading When Jesus Shows Up: A Reflection on John 20.19-31
[Note: This is a very long post. If you don't want to read the whole thing, I would encourage you to read the introduction and then to scroll to the "Putting it together" section.] Part of the practice of lectio divina involves taking a passage as it is, without thinking of what comes before or … Continue reading Is it Peace? (An Integral Reading of 2 Kings 9-10)
As I was writing my post for the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels the other day, I was struck by something in the text from the Apocalypse that had slipped past my notice in previous readings. In the dense symbolic language of its genre, the text describes a battle between warring factions in … Continue reading “I Saw Satan Fall like Lightning” (Further thoughts on Revelation 12.7-12)
Matthew Root 