MCC Washington Memo

Melissa Engle/MCC

Earl Zimmerman, on sabbatical in MCC’s Washington Office, reflects on this Sunday’s lectionary texts:

Tough questions lie behind the Pharisees’ question to Jesus about the legitimacy of paying taxes to the Roman emperor. When, if ever, are we justified in fighting militarily in the name of God against an oppressive government or occupying army? When does national loyalty become idolatrous and subvert faith in God?

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Melissa Engle/MCC

Paul Heidebrecht of MCC’s Ottawa Office writes on this Sunday’s lectionary texts:

Like the people of Israel, we all tend to get a little unruly when we are kept waiting….But surely unruliness is a far cry from idolatry, isn’t it? Surely impoliteness pales in comparison to insubordination. Surely petulance is a petty rather than a mortal sin….

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Melissa Engle/MCC

Earl Zimmerman, former MCC representative in India, reflects on this Sunday’s lectionary texts:

It’s so easy to think that what’s good for me and my kind will certainly also be good for others. This sentiment is aptly expressed by the worn cliché, “What’s good for General Motors is good for America.” And it doesn’t begin to consider how this relates to what’s good for the rest of the world. Recent economic challenges make it easy to become focused on ourselves and ignore the poverty of others…

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Melissa Engle/MCC

Kayon Watson of MCC’s United Nations liaison office reflects on this Sunday’s lectionary texts:

Telling the testimonies of God was so important that it became law in the Old Testament. In Psalm 78 there was such weight, such significance in telling the testimonies of God to the next generation. God wanted to ensure that the children yet to be born would know and hear of the amazing miracles and the wondrous acts of love displayed to his people…. There are so many devastating events occurring in the world…we have to remember that God is good, and our testimony of his faithfulness is our evidence of that fact.

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Melissa Engle/MCC

Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach reflects on this Sunday’s lectionary texts:

[Today's texts] raise the question of how exactly justice (or fairness) and grace fit together. When it comes down to it, we usually want grace when it applies to us, and justice when it applies to others…

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