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This is Robin Walker's blog.
I am the Dean of the Diocese of Brandon & Rector of St. Matthew's Anglican Cathedral, in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. I have been in this ministry since January of 2003.
My big interest is "preaching among exiles," to borrow a term from Walter Brueggemann.
This blog is mainly devoted to my sermons, and the sometimes circuitous process by which I get to them, as well as current issues in church life as I experience them. I welcome constructive comment on the content of my personal posts. Comments on linked articles should be directed to the appropriate authors. Note that this is a moderated blog. I will not accept comments dealing with local and/or personal issues.
The main page normally contains only material from the current week. Past articles are found in other categories.
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Saturday, August 16
The Blessings of Unity. Homily for August 17, 2008
by
Robin Walker
on Sat 16 Aug 2008 06:00 PM CDT
God desires for the church the blessings of unity, the peace which only God can bring. more »
Thursday, August 14
Some thoughts about August 17
by
Robin Walker
on Thu 14 Aug 2008 08:59 AM CDT
The lessons for Sunday (semi-continuous series) seem to me to converge around the tension between law and grace, of reaching out beyond the boundaries we set for ourselves (albeit sometimes in the name of God, often armed with manifold proof-texts .) In the Genesis story, Joseph is reconciled with the brothers who had intended to kill him, seeing the hand of God in what they had done. In Matthew, Jesus is pushed to extend his mission beyond the "lost sheep of the house of Israel." And in Paul, we hear the climax of his argument that God can not abandon the Jews, regardless of their rejection of Christ, because God is compassionate. At least one modern commentator (T. L. Donaldson, "Paul & the Gentiles" Fortress 1997) finds this to be the heart of the letter to the Romans. In a very helpful analysis, Bill Loader wrote the following:
We see here an understanding of God that senses the incoherence between speaking of love and grace in the present and speaking of permanent rejection (and punishment) in the future. Christians have mostly lived with this incoherence and it helps explain the incoherence of much that Christians have done throughout history: espousing love and espousing hate simultaneously, even making it the basis for evangelism through threat and for atonement through seeing Jesus' death as the buying off of God's unrelenting hate (or rejection) by having it imposed only on Jesus. These are crude notions which have the effect of legitimising hate. Paul prises open new possibilities by suggesting God continues to be characterised by grace even into the future and so cannot abandon Israel, any more than a good parent would abandon a child. Saturday, August 9
God’s Choice, Not Ours. Homily for August 10, 2008
by
Robin Walker
on Sat 09 Aug 2008 06:00 PM CDT
God uses all kinds of people to effect God's purposes -- and it's God's choice, not ours. more »
Saturday, August 2
God Finds a Way. Homily for August 3, 2008
by
Robin Walker
on Sat 02 Aug 2008 06:00 PM CDT
Take what God has given you, give thanks, and work with it. And God will find the way to meet the needs of God's people. more »
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