"Believing without Seeing" (tags)
“Faith is a gift. But faith is also sought and gained by struggling with doubt. For the disciples or the people who want to follow Jesus today, faith is based on the venture of entrusting oneself.” Margot Kassmann was a national Lutheran bishop in Germany.
Billy Graham: Pro Christ or Anti Christ (tags)
Billy Graham was more a representative of the imperial American elite than a follower of the meek and humble Jesus. He comforted every president for 70 years in their shameful Korean War, Vietnam War and Iraq War. Fast cleaning and Graham soap marked "God's machine gun."
The civilization made and guided by men seriously threatens survival on the earth. The song of Christmas is not a sweet lullaby but a feminine rebellion against the world of death worshipers. The gifts of this earth do not belong to us.
Epilogue to a Life: Dorothee Soelle (tags)
Dorothee Soelle combined political activism and mysticism, unconventional thinking and passion for life. This epilogue written by her partner, the theologian and former Benedictine monk Fulbert Steffensky, reveals the feistyness and childlikeness of the liberation theologian.
We live on credit, shift costs and risks into the future and make possible a prosperity with the help of a policy of cheap money that is paid for by others. An interest-free money system would be a counter model to the growth pressure inherent in the present system.
Jesus' way is a third way, not the warrior cult or indifference but nonviolent resistance. Jesus himself is the auto-basileia and auto-aletheia of God, the fulfillment of the land promise to Israel. Jesus did not stop at words but drove out the moneychangers and traders.
Breaking the Vicious Circle of Poverty (tags)
In 2008 in Namibia the Lutheran bishop Zephania Kameeta provided a whole village with an unconditional basic income. BIG (Basic Income Grant) is like a magic word, the code for a bold idea that poverty is not a hopeless fate but an enemy that can be forced to its knees.
In the parables, the itinerant preacher Jesus meets us as an ingenious storyteller. He brings God near people. This is an entirely undogmatic way of speaking of God. Where speaking is impossible, one must tell stories. Parables focus on the earthly and point to the divine.
Afghanistan: Nothing is Good (tags)
The Security Council did not give Americans any blank check. The strongest military alliance of the world threatens to break down after eight years of war in Afghanistan.
Word Falls on Good Ground (tags)
Enclosed please find three sermons translated from the German. Enjoy the feast! You are the light, the door and the sower, the subject hoping in God's reign! Every valley shall be exalted.
Making Profits and Not Dismissing Workers (tags)
Having money is not reprehensible. But thinking I am an achiever and make my life myself is incompatible with the Christian faith. Productivity is a grace or gift. The pressure to perform is brutal. Many are in such a hamster wheel they no longer reflect about the meaning of the whole and the shortness of their life.
Normalized Madness - Violence in Everyday Life (tags)
Violence is a primal phenomenon of humanity. Admitting we live in a culture of violence is hard. Violence is part of the horrific everyday life of many people. Nonviolent education strengthens civil courage. Jesus calls peacemakers blessed.
Globalization - Christian Life in the One World (tags)
In the Bible, justice is always measured in the well-being of the weakest. Freedom could be understood as bond to community, not egomania. People are not commodities or a mass. There are no superfluous persons or superfluous continents. Ms Kassmann is a Lutheran bishop.
Christmas Sermon by Margot Kassmann (tags)
God's grace changes us. If God gives us orientationk, this means overcoming hatred and violence, making the vision of justice into reality. The birth of God's child is like a star in the sky. The misery, hunger and poverty in the world may not be swept from the agenda.