Fully Alive in God

  Dios Conoce Nuestras Debilidades Iglesia de Todos los Santos, Oxnard La Reverenda Alene Campbell-Langdell San Mateo 25: 1-13                  El reino de Dios es como un grupo de personas que se presentan a una marcha de protesta, pero la mitad de ellos se olvidó de traer carteles. Todos se juntan y conversan esperando que comience la protesta. Al menos los líderes anuncian que comienza la protesta y la gente comienza hacer fila. Aquellos que se presentaron sin ningún letrero comienzan a sentirse avergonzados por su falta y buscan algo con lo que hacer unos carteles. Al no encontrar nada disponible, se dirigen a la tienda más cercana para comprar suministros. Cuando regresan, la protesta ha terminado y todos se han ido a casa.             Vuelvo a contar esta parábola de Jesús de esta manera porque es demasiado fácil leer esto como una cuen...

M. Campbell-Langdell All Santos, Oxnard (Rev. 7:9-17; Ps./S. 34:1-10, 22; 1 Jn 3:1-3; S. Mat. 5:1-12) “Do you live by the book, do you play by the rules? Do you care what is thought by others about you? If this day is all that is promised to you Do you live for the future, the present, the past?” [1] La canción “Unsung Psalm” por Tracy Chapman dice esto, y me hacen pensar en mi vida. Do we always live by the book – if it is the Bible, we try to, but it is always our own interpretation in our own time. Sometimes we don’t play by the rules, if they are the rules of our culture and not God’s rules. Tratamos de seguir a las reglas de Dios y a sus escrituras pero siempre estamos interpretándolas según las realidades de nuestras vidas. Estamos entre cultura y Cristo, discerniendo la verdad. We interpret the truth that lies somewhere between Christ and culture. But we always hope that at the end of our lives we will be accepted into God’s embrace and into the glorious company of ...

  M. Campbell-Langdell All Santos, Oxnard (Exodus 33:12–23; Ps. 99; 1 Thess. 1:1–10; St Matthew 22:15–22) In today’s gospel reading, we see the Pharisees try to lay a trap for Jesus. These are religious leaders who are trying their best to follow the rules and they are threatened by Jesus, who seems to be bending all these rules or re-interpreting them. And so they ask him what seems an impossible question. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” On the surface, this question is easily answered. Well, of course! But remember that in Jesus’ context there were two “laws” at play. One was the law of Roman society which imposed intense taxes on the populace. Occupied Palestine was required to pay six million denarii of tax. [1]   How on earth? I doubt there were that many people in the region to each pay a day’s wage to the emperor. Now some of this came from businesses and so forth but it was still a very heavy tax. And some of this was for public works, but ...

  M. Campbell-Langdell All Santos, Oxnard ( Éxodo 33:12–23; Salmo 99; 1 Tesalonicenses 1:1–10; San Mateo 22:15–22)   En la lectura del evangelio de hoy, vemos a los fariseos tratar de tenderle una trampa a Jesús. Estos son líderes religiosos que están haciendo todo lo posible por seguir las reglas, y están amenazados por Jesús, quien parece estar doblando todas estas reglas o reinterpretándolas. Y entonces le preguntan lo que parece una pregunta imposible. "¿Está bien que paguemos impuestos al emperador romano, o no?” En la superficie, esta pregunta se responde fácilmente. ¡Pues claro! Pero recuerde que en el contexto de Jesús había dos "leyes" en juego. Una era la ley de la sociedad romana que imponía fuertes impuestos a la población. La Palestina ocupada estaba obligada a pagar seis millones de denarios de impuestos. [1] ¿Cómo en el mundo pudieron hacerlo? Dudo que hubiera muchas personas en la región que pagaran cada una el salario diario al emperador. Clar...

  M. Campbell-Langdell All Saints, Oxnard (Exodus 32:1–14 Ps. 106:1–6, 19–23 Phil. 4:1–9 St Matthew 22:1–14)   I was excited but nervous when I called a friend and fellow pastor this week. His given name is Darren and he is a Disciples of Christ pastor who also happens to be a younger black man serving in a largely white denomination. He is also a Christian rap artist who performs as Theo Blue. And his music videos, including one he calls “The Same” [1] have convicted me as a Christian and as a white person living in America. Theo Blue’s work calls up the profound differences between the experience of black Americans and Americans of color, and white Euro-Americans. We are the same human race, but our experience is not the same. There are many disparities between how our siblings of color live and white siblings live in the US. How free do we each feel? When one group can never escape the fact of their skin and another rarely seems to be aware of the privilege their...

  M. Campbell-Langdell All Santos, Oxnard (Éxodo 32:1–14 Salmo 106:1–6, 19–23 Filipenses 4:1–9 San Mateo 22:1–14) Estaba emocionada pero nerviosa cuando llamé a un amigo y compañero esta semana. Su nombre es Darren y es un pastor de Discípulos de Cristo que también es un hombre negro que sirve en una denominación mayoritariamente blanca. También es un artista de rap cristiano que usa el apodo Theo Blue. Y sus videos musicales, incluido uno que él llama "The Same" [1] , me han afectado como cristiano y como persona blanca que vive en Estados Unidos. El trabajo de Theo Blue evoca las profundas diferencias entre la experiencia de los afro americanos o personas de color en los Estados Unidos y la gente blanca en los Estados Unidos. Somos la misma raza humana, pero nuestra experiencia no es la misma. Hay muchas disparidades entre cómo viven nuestros hermanos de color y los hermanos blancos en los EE. UU. ¿Cuán libres nos sentimos cada uno? Cuando un grupo nunca puede escap...

  M. Campbell-Langdell All Santos, Oxnard (Exodus 20:1–4, 7–9, 12–20 Psalm 19 Philippians 3:4b–14 St Matthew 21:33–46)   “Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him….” We know that it was Paul who wrote these words to the Philippians, but they could just as easily have been written a thousand years later by Saint Francis of Assisi, back before he was known as that. Born Giovanni after John the Baptist, the man stood in the chapel. Although named for a saint, he had lived his life as anything but. He had caroused and spent Daddy’s money. And now, trying to listen to God, he heard the simple words, “rebuild my church.” And he went and sold some of his father’s cloth to literally rebuild the p...