Jesus’ enemies often threaten to arrest and kill him. He admonishes his disciples, “Whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find...

My friend Sergio was born with a severe hearing impairment and a defective heart. When he was a six years old, his parents brought him to Florida from Mexico. They entered...

Baby brother came home from the hospital with his proud parents to meet his sister. The four-year-old asked her mom and dad if she could be with her brother alone. Anxiously,...

Jesus’ declaration that he has come not to bring peace but to bring division is unsettling. Images of a peaceable kingdom where lions lie down with lambs float further away as...

In 2014 I had the chance to spend a week with a group of leaders from the underground church in Iran. The Americans were assigned to be their teachers at a...

What does it mean to run a race surrounded by witnesses? In the first Olympics of modern times in 1896, the crowd not only cheered but literally surrounded one runner. The...

Too many of us have grabbed hold of the notion that people of faith are perfect, unwavering examples to be lifted up because of their endless strengths. Actually, reading the Bible...

Today’s setting feels like déjà vu all over again to those of us who spent the last two days in Isaiah 5. We’re back on the farm. Once again Israel is...

Today we learn the outcome of the gardener’s investment of care. When he harvests the grapes, they are not the sweet, wholesome fruit for which he prepared. They are wild grapes,...

Love often takes the shape of preparation. A young man showers and shaves and washes his car as he thinks of a date with his beloved later that day. A mother-to-be...