Jesus and Protest
Herb Montgomery | March 5, 2021 This week’s reading is John 2:13-22. I prefer Mark’s version of this story: “On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned…
Gaining the World, Losing One’s Humanity
Herb Montgomery | February 26, 2021 In Mark’s gospel we read, “He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the…
Salt, Light, and Cautious Optimism
Herb Montgomery | February 19, 2021 “But mere diversity is not the goal. A safe and just world for everyone, where everyone can call our world home, is the goal. It will not be enough to see a more diverse…
Learning to Listen
Herb Montgomery | February 12, 2021 “I’m thankful for a woman who didn’t give up, but persisted in helping Jesus and his disciples see her need beyond their culturally conditioned prejudice. In that moment, she was teacher of the teacher.…
The Falling and Rising of Many
Herb Montgomery | January 22, 2021 “This is the intrinsic reason why our collective thriving depends on raising up some in society while those who have gained too much power, privilege, property, or profit must fall back down. Ancient societies…
Desecrating Sacred Spaces
Herb Montgomery | January 15, 2021 “As a White Jesus follower, all of these things weigh on me. The red-flag-warning parallels between our own story and the warning Jesus gave; the values acted on in last week’s events; the disparity…
Reimagining Our World in 2021
by Herb Montgomery | January 8, 2021 Mark’s stories about Jesus begin: “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come…
The Concrete Liberation Narratives of Advent (Part 3)
Herb Montgomery | December 24, 2020 “So many are suffering hardship right now in the U.S. These stories of the birth of Jesus aren’t distractions from that suffering. They don’t turn our focus to postmortem bliss or internalized private and…
The Concrete Liberation Narratives of Advent (Part 2 of 3)
Herb Montgomery | December 18, 2020 “Notice that, for their first audiences, the stories of Jesus were not Christian stories about getting to heaven. These were stories deeply rooted in the concrete liberation hopes and realities people were facing .…
