Love in Flesh and Bone

Description

On the weekend of April 22, 2012 the St. Anne's Church website received thousands of visitors. That Sunday, in the New York Times Magazine, an article appeared about the Rev. Dr. Amy E. Richter competing in a physique competition. The strong reactions to the article got Richter and her husband and fellow clergy person, Joseph Pagano, thinking about the scandal of the Incarnation. The claim that God entered fully into our flesh and blood human existence makes some of us squeamish. And yet, this shocking claim is at the heart of the good news that in Christ God is with us no matter what. There is nothing that can happen to us--no pain, no humiliation, no anguish--that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. In sermons for the seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, Richter and Pagano proclaim the good news of the scandalous love of God in flesh and bone. ** Review "Amy Richter and Joe Pagano break open the flesh and bone of our human condition, inviting us to glimpse the love that shines through. Through imagination and scholarship they illuminate the wonder of our vulnerability and the God who loves us in our very bones." --Joan Penzenstadler, Vice President for Mission and Identity, Mount Mary University, Wisconsin "Preaching at its thoughtful and provocative best. Written with wisdom finely attuned to the joys and the sorrows of human experience, these sermons probe how fully and irrevocably God has become present to and for us in the incarnation of Christ Jesus." --Philip J. Rossi, Department of Theology, Marquette University, Wisconsin "Richter and Pagano merge inquisitive intellects with the richness of faith as they explore the mystery of God made flesh. In the physical world, whether the context is a fog-shrouded hike up an unconquerable mountain or in imagined details such as 'Herod's splayed hands on a windowsill,' this book illuminates the paradox that God is in us, as us--that eternal love was made to dwell forever in the transitory house of flesh and bone." --Laura Oliver, author ofThe Story Within "Preachers are to bring alive the word of God such that individuals and the church are transformed by God's grace. Amy Richter and Joe Pagano bring alive the Word by thorough scholarship and vivid imagery, focused on faith experienced in daily living. Through Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, they witness in their words to the power of God's love as an incarnate--flesh and bone--reality for contemporary Christians." --John L. Rabb, Bishop Suffragan (Ret.), Maryland About the Author Amy E. Richter is Rector of St. Anne's Episcopal Church in Annapolis, Maryland and Visiting Instructor at the Ecumenical Institute at St. Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore, Maryland. She is author of Enoch and the Gospel of Matthew and co-author with Joseph Pagano of A Man, A Woman, A Word of Love. ** Joseph S. Pagano is Associate Rector of St. Anne's Episcopal Church and Affiliate Professor of Theology at Loyola University in Baltimore, Maryland. He is author of The Origins and Development of the Triadic Structure of Faith in H. Richard Niebuhr.