There’s a story about a young minister who was not long into his first pastorate when he was visited by his bishop. The two of them talked over the affairs of...

A friend of mine told me how he almost quit his first pastorate. He found it hard to endure the seemingly petty complaints from his congregants. Members in the congregation threatened...

If I believed, as some social scientists do, that people are nothing more than what their past experiences have conditioned them to be, I would have to give up on efforts...

Jews and Christians have this in common: Both await a glorious future with the coming of God’s Messiah. In Psalm 35 we get the good news that when that Messiah comes...

A wild man in the wilderness probably does not come to mind for most of us when we think of preparing for Christmas. In the midst of hanging twinkling lights and...

John the Baptist’s words in verse 7 strike out at the Pharisees and Sadducees of Matthew’s story with a quickness and venom fitting the snake imagery. Given only the scant background...

Welcome can feel like a familiar and comforting word. It appears on airport signs and doormats. We hang it on our walls and read it on websites. “Welcome home!” “We welcome...

Do God’s promises offer lessons, or limits? The audience for this Romans passage, the early Christian community in Rome, is caught up in questions of identity and belonging; those from the...

Although summer may seem like a distant memory and spring like a far-off promise during these early days of December in the global North, few things draw the mind as quickly...

Imagine an ideal political leader or Supreme Court justice. What skills would he or she possess? What characteristics might be her trademarks? What might he wear? A belt of righteousness or...