The agricultural metaphor was one of Jesus’ favorites. Speaking to a people of the land, Jesus used the imagery of the land often in his parables and sermons. A sower who went out to sow. A lamp and a bushel basket. Growing seed. Mustard seed. And that is just one chapter (Mark 4). Throughout his ministry, Jesus connected God’s work to the growth from the land. The nourishment and sustenance of the earth became metaphors for the care and support of God’s in-breaking Reign.
If it’s true—according to a children’s hymn—that “all God’s creatures got a place in the choir,” then Caleb Chincoya is an overachiever.
The multi-talented 21-year-old college senior takes up at least five spots—playing guitar, bass, congas, drums, and piano—in the band.
Today’s lectionary text from the letter to the Ephesians reminds us that the love of God anchors and sustains us. It is the firm ground underneath our feet. It is the fertile soil in which we are rooted, allowing us to grow and flourish. Scripture is full of images from the agricultural world that describe God’s kingdom.
I have a favorite T-shirt.
It’s not my favorite shirt because it’s fancy or colorful. In fact, it’s just a white shirt received at the finish line of a 5-kilometer charity walk more than a decade ago.
Monika Ruiz’s vocational aspirations paint a portrait of holistic Christian commitment. This college sophomore wants to serve as a nurse in international mission, but her dreams for the future don’t stop with taking care of physical needs. Monika would like to tend spiritual needs through pastoral ministry in a developing country. She is concerned about justice for neglected people and communities around the world, and she envisions starting an advocacy organization that works on their behalf.
Having journeyed from a nonreligious upbringing to a seminary classroom, spending time on a park bench and at a fundamentalist university along the way, Chad Lawson arrived at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary as a self-described “spiritual nomad.”
Human rights are our most basic need. Yet in every village, city, and nation across the globe Countless numbers of people Are denied their human rights.
In 2015, Auburn Seminary launched a signature educational initiative: The Auburn Senior Fellows program, gathering some of the most passionate and talented faith leaders working for justice in the United States today. The inaugural group includes people who live out their faith and work as a pastor, a rabbi, a theologian, an activist, a bishop, a nun, an organizer. It includes people from the breadth of Christianity (Protestant, Catholic, Evangelical), and from the Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh traditions. They are Millennials, Gen Xers, and Baby Boomers.
To connect with justice is to connect with the heart of God. It is a part of God’s core character. It is not optional but necessary. Jesus, the very fulfillment of Scripture—God on earth, here with us—declared in his first message that justice and compassion would be at the center of his ministry. In Luke 4:18-19 Jesus doesn’t say, “I am here just for your soul.” No, he declared that through the power of the Holy Spirit he was going to set captives free, bring sight to the blind, and break the chains of injustice!
My Father’s Affairs
In Luke 2:41-52, Joseph and Mary search desperately for their young son Jesus. There is a certain irony here: Jesus’ parents think he is lost, when at a deeper level he has found his calling, which is “to be about his father’s affairs.”
In Luke’s Gospel, the “father’s affairs” entail expanding people’s understanding of family and community. It starts in this story itself. Jesus’ parents have a particular understanding of his place in the family, and he challenges that notion by envisioning for himself an identity that reaches beyond his family. Throughout the third Gospel, Jesus subverts the narrow identities attributed to him and claims for himself a more expansive identity.
