Looking into the lectionary - Marketing Jesus: Prayer apps and TV ads

February 23, 2025 Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany Luke 6:27-38 Luke’s counsel towards love and non-violence in Luke 6:27-38, paralleled in Matthew 5:43 and Romans 12:20, is one the most distinctive directives in Christianity, laying the foundation for the long-held belief that early Christianity was pacifist to the core. Texts like these also played a formative role in the reflection of luminaries like Howard Thurman and Martin Luther King Jr., who found in them biblical support for non-violence as a form of resistance to evil. It may seem odd to characterize Luke’s version of enemy love as “resistance”: “Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat, do not withhold even your shirt.” At first glance, this doesn’t look like resistance but more like “doormat Christianity” because it seems so passive. In her book Dear White Christians, Jennifer Harvey tells a story about her mentor, James Cone, the prominent Black liberation theologian who often critiqued both integration and passive nonviolence. When White folk would ask him, “Do you believe in violence?” Cone would expose the assumption behind this question because it never took seriously the oppressor’s violence, answering, “Whose violence are we talking about?” This story illuminates reflection on Luke 6:27-38, a text in which Jesus counsels enemy love. You see, Jesus’ admonition to love enemies is anything but passive. To understand this, it is important to understand the biblical notion of love — which is not primarily a feeling (as if you could command a feeling). Love is not something you feel but something you do, regardless of how you feel. What Jesus has in mind is action for the common good in socially marginal situations where a power imbalance demands creative tactics for change. So when Jesus says, “If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also,” he is not counseling passivity but rather a creative response to an abuse of power. I’ve learned from community organizing that if someone is using power against you, they either expect you to be passive or fearful — so do neither. Love in this situation entails finding a way to work for the common good. Turning the other cheek is, indeed, forcing the common good. In the ancient world, if a person in power struck an inferior on the cheek, they most likely used a back-handed slap, aimed not to injure but to dishonor and humiliate. Thus, Jesus advises turning the cheek, forcing those in power to hit you with an open hand like an equal, recognizing your dignity. ... Thank you to this week's writer Roger Gench. Read the rest of the commentary on the website. Order of worship — February 23, 2025, by Roger Gench Marketing Jesus: Prayer apps, TV ads, and faith in the digital age by Patrice Gaines On ambition (February 16, 2025) by Chris Burton PC(USA) faces backlash over mission co-worker layoffs by Chris Currie The theology of a sticker: love, belonging, and the space we create by Maggie Alsup  Seven Ways of Looking at the Transfiguration by Sarah Hinlicky Wilson Want the worship resources for February 16, 2025? You can find them here. Grief touches every corner of our lives — not just in moments of death but in quiet farewells, conflict, and lost health. Grieving Change and Loss invites you to embrace the wilderness of loss and rediscover the horizon of hope offered by Christ’s resurrection. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT... A free Ash Wednesday liturgy Written by Anne Apple. The Stated Clerk and Executive Director wants Presbyterians to know about recent efforts to make civil society less disruptive The Rev. Jihyun Oh writes to siblings in the PC(USA). As immigration issues grow, so does a Chicago church’s ministry Lincoln Park Presbyterian’s support of immigrants expands through partnerships in the face of growing crises. — Rich Copley We’re all invited to the freedom party Silence sustains oppression, writes Teri McDowell Ott. What will we contribute to freedom’s call? The Wounds Are the Witness: Black Faith Weaving Memory into Justice and Healing Yolanda Pierce’s "The Wounds Are the Witness" explores Black faith, memory, and justice, urging us to reclaim our wounds as a path to healing and action. — Nannette Dixon David Lynch, divine wisdom, and finding beauty in a chaotic world Brendan McLean reflects on David Lynch’s surreal art, biblical wisdom and divine mystery. For DC airport chaplain, disaster training becomes reality Airport chaplain Nace Lanier, among the first to respond to the midair collision near Washington's airport, joined a team 'to holistically care for the hurting and confused.'