Rev. Julia Lambert Fogg
The Rev. Julia Lambert Fogg, Ph.D., is Professor of Religion at California Lutheran University where she specializes in New Testament studies, first century Christianities, and theologies from the margins. She was named “Professor of the Year” by the CLU class of 2008 and chaired the Religion department from 2009-2016. She served a bilingual Scandinavian-Hispanic Lutheran congregation in Pasadena from 2007-2013. Her teaching focuses on experiential learning and immersion pedagogies that bring students into the community and underrepresented communities into the classroom. Her book, Jesus at the Border: Opening Our Hearts to the Stories of Our Immigrant Neighbors (2020 Baker/Brazos Press) interprets border crossing narratives in the New Testament in conversation with contemporary immigrant experiences in Southern California.
Reflection Questions:
What month is it in the Muslim calendar?
What are some ways you have practiced being a “good guest”?
What other borders can you think of that Jesus has crossed in his earthly ministry, consider geographical borders as well as ethnic, cultural and religious borders…
Think of a time when you have been in an unfamiliar place, or with people you don’t know and you have felt out of your “comfort zone”. What did you learn from that experience? Did anyone reach out to you, and if so, how did they or could they have made you feel welcome?
In Mark 7 Jesus and the Syrophoenecian woman cross geographical, cultural, gender and religious borders to converse with each other. Both leave the conversation with their humanity transformed. In the Gospel of John (1:14) and in Philippians 2:6-11, we hear how Christ crossed the ultimate border to meet us, shifting from a cosmic form of divine being into a limited human form. What implications do these border crossings have for how we live our lives as Christian leaders in a Global world?
Taylor University Chapel 