So forgiveness pre-requires understanding the mistakes of the past? here hear re this opposing this me-first, America-first, white-first, male-first approach>…
Weekly lessons in theology and public life • Since 2011
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Lesson 1: The First Christian Community
Read MORE: Lesson 1: The First Christian CommunityA number of my friends are raising questions about Christian community. They are finding our present forms fail to enrich, nourish, or inspire their lives. Many are frustrated after having tried one congregation after another. Our conversations have convinced me…
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Lesson 2: Church Community in History
Read MORE: Lesson 2: Church Community in HistoryLet’s take a quick look at various kinds of Christian community that have been practiced in our history. Most forms that served well in one period no longer worked in later ones, at least not in their original shapes. Even…
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Lesson 3: New Models
Read MORE: Lesson 3: New ModelsA change seems to have taken place in the relationship between church and society. Although it was long coming, most of us did not pay much attention until the recent presidential campaign. It was taken for granted that church and…
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Lesson 4: Radical Individualism
Read MORE: Lesson 4: Radical IndividualismI am having a terrible time writing this series. I have studied, examined, and lived Christian community for such a long time that I do not know where to begin. As many of you know, my partners, Ed Keyser, Tim…
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Lesson 5: God’s Presence
Read MORE: Lesson 5: God’s PresenceI really experienced what St. Benedict meant about the importance of conversation in any Christian community while teaching Sunday School last week. I was pointing out how much Luke-Acts associated the Holy Spirit with speaking boldly. A good one-third of…
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Lesson 6: Humility
Read MORE: Lesson 6: HumilityMy first response to Sister Joan remains that she seems to be writing about the self-evident. My second is she confronts exactly what is wrong with our present society. Her take on humility that she designates as the lost virtue…
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Lesson 7: Balance and Moderation
Read MORE: Lesson 7: Balance and ModerationThe first thing mentioned by my class in Montgomery County, Maryland was how the Rule mandated treating work tools just as meticulously as worship articles. The group was surprised that a monastic community would think work was as important as…
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Lesson 8: Work
Read MORE: Lesson 8: WorkThe classic definition of economy was the management of the family or community that makes sure everyone is treated with dignity and has enough. We find ourselves in trouble because the model of the economy, that served us well in…
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Lesson 9: Common Housing Movement
Read MORE: Lesson 9: Common Housing MovementI am going to take time off from Chittister to acknowledge the wide variety of responses I have received to the recent lessons. Obviously now, as in the past, there have always been efforts to find better forms of community.…
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Chapter 10: Leisure
Read MORE: Chapter 10: LeisureThe media greeted the 70s with more than the usual number of articles on what the future held for the next ten years. As a young pastor, I read as many as I could thinking they might indicate how I…
Recent Comments
An extremely timely topic. Thanks, Fritz!
yes we need to forgive our leaders yet make sure they do the right thing – which they aren’t.