Thinking Theologically
About the Common Good
Reflections on theology, scripture, and public life from the Rev. Larry Greenfield, Ph D.
Essays are presented in chronological order with the most recent essays at the top.
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| Date/Title | Excerpt |
| 12/15/09 Cries |
Good thing the son of elderly Elizabeth and Zechariah – commonly known as John the Baptist – was born in a “Judean town in the hill country” (Luke 1: 39) and not “in and around Bethlehem” (Matthew 2: 16). Otherwise, pregnant Elizabeth would have shrieked a much different cry than the one she loudly shouted when she heard the greeting of the recently impregnated Mary from Nazareth. |
| 12/01/09 An Advent of Listening |
A friend remarked the other day that 90% of the American population couldn’t hear anything someone said to them. |
| 09/16/09 Politicians' Favoritism Rejects Democracy's Ideal |
I was a little concerned that the 24 Lutherans in the U.S. Congress (four in the Senate and 20 in the House; 15 Democrats and nine Republicans) wouldn't get the message when they attend church this coming Sunday. |
| 08/25/09 Commodity or Right? Going On Offensive for Health Care |
OK, I grant that in the current health care debate we are, in the end, talking about the enemies of "flesh and blood" – that is, about what kind of health care system and its financing will allow us to fight the forces of disease, the enemies that are as real as the H1N1 flu virus that could kill millions of human beings across the globe, including our own country, before the end of this year. |
| 08/14/09 Can Baptists Learn to Perpetually Adore Jesus? |
Roman Catholics in Boston now have the opportunity to participate in the revival of a centuries-old practice, something called the Ritual of Perpetual Adoration. |
| 08/11/09 Trash Talking: When Litterbugs Bug You |
I don't think I made a conscious decision to accept the job, and certainly it wasn't offered or assigned to me. But increasingly I find myself employed as an unsalaried groundskeeper around my neighborhood. |
| 08/11/09 The Family's DNA |
This sermon was delivered by Larry Greenfield, executive minister for the American Baptist Churches of Metro Chicago, at the Community Church of Wilmette in Wilmette, Ill., on July 26, 2009. |
| 08/01/09 Getting_the_Point |
The theologian who wrote the Gospel of John was clearly trying to cover a lot of bases. So the reader can assume that there's probably not just one point going on in any one text, but several. |
| 07/28/09 Will We Make Sure Everyone Has an Abundance? |
The theologian who wrote the Gospel of John was clearly trying to cover a lot of bases. So the reader can assume that there's probably not just one point going on in any one text, but several. |
| 07/15/09 Why Do Politicians Love Complex Solutions? |
I challenge anybody to provide a simple, definitive and declarative interpretation of the opening statement in Ephesians. |
| 07/07/09 Maybe the Church Needs to Lose Power |
Jesus, I suppose, didn't think he was retaining his power at the expense of others. In his mind, I'm guessing, he thought he was doing a pretty good job of sharing his power with everyone who asked. |
| 06/16/09 Too Many Politicians Please Party Leaders, Not Constituents |
Given a polity of democracy, one would think that American politicians would always be aiming to please the constituencies they represent. After all, those voters are the ones who determine whether a politician stays in or is removed from office. |
| 06/02/09 When Man Plays God: Taking Away Creation's Breath |
The psalmist covers most but not all of the possibilities. In praise to God's wisdom and power, the psalmist says that when God chooses to hide God's face, the creatures of the earth "are dismayed," and when God chooses to "take away their breath, they die and return to their dust." (Psalm 104:29) |
| 05/22/09 Can We Rekindle Our Love for Society's Less Fortunate? |
Given the divorce rate in this country, it's pretty clear that quite a few folks have trouble staying in love. |
| 05/07/09 Politicians Leave Poor to be Devoured by Economic 'Wolves' |
It pains me to say it, but it appears that Jesus is anti-laborer. |
| 04/21/09 Did Lent Fail? For the Extraordinary Among Us, It Seems So |
I surely hope Eastertide works out better than Lent this year. As far as I can tell, Lent failed utterly. |
| 04/09/09 Knee-Bending Lifestyle Places Others Before Self |
The Apostle Paul tells the Christians in Philippi that every knee ought to bend at the name of the God-exalted Jesus and that every tongue ought to confess that the God-chosen Jesus is the guide and governor of all of life. |
| 03/23/09 Created for Good Works – Just Like the BMW Sports Wagon |
It’s clearly created for good works. The 2009 BMW 535i xDrive Sport Wagon, that is. |
| 03/16/09 Resolving Middle East Conflict Requires More Than Prayers |
On March 12, EthicsDaily.com re-published an important article by the Rev. Mark Woods, editor of Britain’s Baptist Times. In the article Woods describes the desperate situation in Gaza, even after the cessation of the recent armed conflict there, and pleads for “prayer, understanding and financial support” for both the churches in the Holy Land and its peacemakers. |
| 03/10/09 Lose Some Life to Save Some |
I don’t think Jesus had those 128 soldiers primarily in mind when he taught his disciples that "those who lose their lives … will save their lives." |
| 02/23/09 Environmentalists Must Understand Thanksgiving |
We ought to give contemporary environmentalists a little slack for misreading Psalm 50. After all, the Psalmist does give the strong impression that she is a member of the court, summoning the wicked—those who misuse and abuse the creation—to face the sternest and highest ranking judge on the bench. |
| 02/10/09 Exorcizing the Demons |
We don’t call him an exorcist, probably because the term is so out of fashion; but that’s actually what he is. |
| 01/28/09 Don’t Fritter Away Opportunity for New Creation |
Too cryptic. That’s the sense I often have when reading the Gospel of Mark. |
| 01/14/09 Hope for Change in the Middle East |
The writer of the Gospel of Mark is a little vague about the numbers. When reporting on how many people from the Judean countryside came out to see and hear John the baptizer in the wilderness, the writer just says they came from all over the place. |
| 01/13/09 Senators Must Be Immune to Abuse of Power |
Could it be that Democratic leaders Harry Reid and Dick Durbin didn’t get immunized to the abuse of power? Let’s admit that this disease has been around for a long time in Washington, D.C. Eight years of George Bush and Dick Cheney has spread the abuse-of-power virus to virtually every dimension of our national political life, whether foreign or domestic. |
| 12/08/08 The Gospel of-or About-Jesus |
The alternatives here are not between leaving Jesus in or out of the gospel picture. Jesus figures centrally in both options, but in much different roles. In one he is the decisive object of faith. In the other he is the decisive figure who points to the object of faith by his words and deeds and who invites others to be a part of the new thing that God is doing. |
| 11/24/08 Put Matthew 25 on Your 'To-Do' List |
What about putting at least a minimum number of acts of charity on one's daily "to-do" list and committing oneself to checking them off when they are completed? Not me. |
| 10/28/08 Vote Twice, at Least |
Our county has such immense power, influence, and control over the lives of other nations and peoples that it would be unjust and irresponsible for individual Americans to vote only on their own self-identity and self interest within a national context. |
| 09/15/08 Forgiving Bin Laden … and the Governor of Illinois |
It's pretty tempting, after the commemoration of the 9/11 attacks on the United States in 2001, to make the case--based on Jesus' teaching about forgiving an offender 70-multiplied-by-seven times--that serious Christians ought to figure out how to extend that forgiveness to brother bin Laden and his Al Qaeda accomplices. |
| 03/19/08 Descending and Ascending |
The writer of the Gospel of John has John the Witness (a.k.a. John the Baptist in the other Gospels) saying, upon seeing Jesus approaching him: "Look! Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the world's sin." (1:29b) |
| 04/29/08 Gospel Tears Down Idols and Shrines of Politics and Race |
Analyzing election results is a tricky business, even for the experts, and I'm no expert. But it's hard, at least for me, not to try to get a feeling for what is happening and finding patterns that reveal where the electorate is heading, even if the sampling is a single state like Pennsylvania. |