Author name: Rama Ramanathan

Last Sunday, some of our congregation stayed back in our worship hall to decorate it for Christmas … to create a joyful, festive atmosphere … Joyful. So, why does the first gospel reading in the church calendar, in the build-up to Christmas, begin with judgment? … How can that be joyful?

The Jews, during their 70-years in Babylon, didn’t have a Temple. Since the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, the Jews haven’t had a Temple. But some Jews, and some Christians, want to build another Temple. Why would God want the Temple – and priests and sacrifices – restored?
Why do people want to build and to destroy large, grand structures – whether the …

Five years had passed since he nailed his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, where he lived.[3] He was invited[4]  to the city of Leisnig.[5] He was invited by the church there. He was invited to help them write a law. An ordinance which would establish progressive taxation, taxing the rich more than the poor; the basis for ensuring that everyone, rich or poor, could have a decent life; the basis for everyone having equal access to education; the basis for the welfare state – the reason why healthcare systems in Europe are overwhelmingly public, not private.

To honour God, we must do much and avoid much. The Bible has many positive lists[3] and many negative lists.[4] But we know that no one has always done all the positive things, and no one has always avoided all the negative things.[5] The Pharisee left this knowledge out of his description of himself. The tax collector put this knowledge in the centre of his description of himself.

Like Wilberforce, the widow needed justice that private prayer alone would not deliver. We aren’t called to pray passively, hoping that God will change the world on our behalf. Prayer may be the wind at our backs, but sometimes we need to track down the answer in person. As the African proverb says, “When you pray, move your feet.”

The work of the Catholic priest Father Damien in Hawaii is perhaps best recorded and most forgotten. He chose to live in an isolated leper colony on a hard-to-reach island. He raised funds, built houses, hospitals, and church buildings for lepers. His chief joy was celebrating the mass, the Roman Catholic version of the Lord’s Supper, uttering the words “Kyrie Eleison” and “Lord have Mercy.” Eventually, he contracted leprosy.

Now we see why the disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith. They asked because they understood faith as a gift. But Jesus answer about the sufficiency of faith as small as a mustard seed shows that he understood faith as a commitment: as a commitment to step out and do things which would be very challenging, very dangerous. And what was Jesus’ answer?

She’d spent most of her life working in a Christian institution, walking beside the poor and needy … For her 70th birthday, she hosted a thanksgiving dinner … She gave a speech. I was shocked …