Thank you Andrew. I really appreciate your careful exegesis--going a bit further into the historical background than most of us are able to do. I find I agree with you almost every time, especially in the hard readings. It's really ironic that people use this chapter to comfort themselves about how well they are doing when it's so clearly not letting anyone off the hook.
I've been the priest at a poor church in the south Bronx over the past 9 years. Its last service will be on the morning of Christmas Eve, since there's no money to meet the huge capital expense associated with structural problems in the parish hall. Over these years it has been a revelation how the various liberals of the church tut-tut about racism and the poor while being patronizing to their Black members and failing to listen to them--at the same time putting no priority into investing in ministry among Hispanic populations (or the Bronx as a whole). Words can be pretty, but budgets, balance sheets, and the composition of the vestries that control big endowments, tell the actual story.
Thank you Andrew. I really appreciate your careful exegesis--going a bit further into the historical background than most of us are able to do. I find I agree with you almost every time, especially in the hard readings. It's really ironic that people use this chapter to comfort themselves about how well they are doing when it's so clearly not letting anyone off the hook.
I've been the priest at a poor church in the south Bronx over the past 9 years. Its last service will be on the morning of Christmas Eve, since there's no money to meet the huge capital expense associated with structural problems in the parish hall. Over these years it has been a revelation how the various liberals of the church tut-tut about racism and the poor while being patronizing to their Black members and failing to listen to them--at the same time putting no priority into investing in ministry among Hispanic populations (or the Bronx as a whole). Words can be pretty, but budgets, balance sheets, and the composition of the vestries that control big endowments, tell the actual story.
I appreciate your reading Andrew - and your faithfulness in ministering under difficult conditions. Peace to you and your people.
Here's what I'll preach to them this Sunday
https://drewkadel.wordpress.com/2023/11/21/come-you-that-are-blessed/