A responsive proclamation for Matthew 5:21-37 Leader: What have you heard was said about insults?All: We have heard that it was said,Leader: “If you so much as call your fellow believer an idiot, you will go to Hell.”All: But in Christ we say:We speak to each other with respect.We are honest when we have been …
At the heart of the Christmas story is a story of God’s total embodiment into suffering. God was not born into grandeur and palaces, but to an unwed mother sleeping in a stable and fleeing a murderous king. Christmas, at its core, is a holiday for the suffering.
Happy is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Happy is he who sees a married woman from far off, commands her to be brought to him, rapes her, and sends her home. Happy is he who kills the husband of the woman he wants and who, when called out by the prophet …
