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The phone call interrupted the weekly text study I host for pastoral colleagues. The female caller identi- fied herself as Gretchen Johnson, the wife of Jack Johnson whose family used to be members of the congregation I serve in west Los Angeles. She thought we might remember that they sent an occasional financial gift to the congregation, although she admitted that her husband had not been active in the congregation for many years. I asked how I could help her.…

Max L. Stackhouse is the Rimmer and Ruth de Vries Professor of Reformed Theology and Public Life at Princeton Theological Seminary. He has published many books and articles in the areas of economic ethics, human rights, covenantal ethics, and family and globalization, including the God and Globalization series, of which he is chief editor (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2000-Present). An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, Dr. Stackhouse has traveled and lectured globally, engaging in various intercultural…

Schoolteachers caution against it, editors abhor it, even computerized grammar checks try to eliminate it--the passive voice. Strunk and White's Elements of Style pronounces the active voice direct, vigorous, and clear. The passive voice is considered by most to be circuitous, weak, and indefinite. The active voice produces forceful writing, giving life and significance to exposition. The passive voice is, well, passive--acted upon rather than acting. And yet, it is precisely "being acted upon" that may make the passive voice…

CONGRUITY To the Blessed Sacrament exposed Wafer thin slice of light--the local point of all the universes, every sun; the point of all that matters in deep space, matter and anti-matter, dark and grace; all that beneath the Son is done, not done, all opposites made neighbor and conjoint. Jesus, you are where Word and silence meet, where mystery and molecule are fused. You are both bread and hand; both truth and way for all eternity and every day. You…

When Jesus appointed the seventytwo to preach the gospel, he indicated that they were not merely authorized to preach the gospel, to speak about Jesus, but that in the proclamation of those appointed to preach the gospel, Jesus himself speaks. Jesus' own voice is heard in the human voice of proclamation. The proclaimed is also the proclaimer. Because of this, the one who rejects the proclaimer rejects also him who is proclaimed, and the one who rejects the proclaimed rejects…