There is no getting around it if you grew up as a Protestant or an Anabaptist Mary is often a confusing figure Not I would say an essentially divisive figure not a troubling figure but confusing The confusion stems from how to accept Mary There is a sense that Roman Catholics say too much a

There was nothing so vulnerable in the ancient world as the life of a child The same is true in many ways even today a child s life is dependent upon those who will care for that child before the child can even know faith or trust her life is in the hands of others Yet other vulnerabilities

Snow has fallen this past week throughout Minnesota and more will be falling tonight and tomorrow and the next day In Minnesota we are not dashing through the snow - this is appropriate for one horse open sleighs but not most cars We are however dashing through Advent or at least I am One

The Thessalonians had very little time with Paul Silvanus and Timothy before they were chased out of the city by a gang of ruffians as the NRSV translation has it in Acts 17 5 And yet in that short time they had turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God and to wait for his Son

1 Thessalonians is the earliest letter of Paul the Apostle of which we are aware and so the earliest written document of the Church Last Sunday s second reading began with the short salutation from Paul Silvanus and Timothy to the Church in Thessalonica ending with the simple grace 1

Paul brings Galatians to an end with notes of exhortation and encouragement and yes warnings and challenges As a good parent he also manages to tell them in no uncertain terms not to make any trouble for him any longer the parental Enough Let s begin with exhortation and encouragement In

Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ you have fallen away from grace 5 3-4 Again Paul makes a charged statement about the role of the law - You w

Paul begins this next section by comparing the Galatians interest in the law of Moses to the stoicheia the natural elements which were sometimes treated as gods see A A Long and D N Sedley The Hellenistic Philosophers Vol 1 Cambridge 1987 280-89 The comparison is clear enough but h

Paul s initial argument regarding Abraham and the law of Moses is that the promise to Abraham on the basis of faith cannot be annulled by the coming of the law of Moses 430 years later see Exodus 12 40 for the likely origin of Paul s chronology What does he mean Paul argues that the promise

Toyota has a new television commercial in which the line saved by zero is sung over and over Since I have no idea what the kids listen to anymore except my own - and yes what they listen to scares me just like my punk albums scared my parents - I was not certain if Toyota was digging into so