Sing joyfully! Shout! Raise your voices! This invitation may sound like a memory of Christmas morning with your overly excited siblings, children, or grandchildren. But this passage invited the people of...

So, now what?” That was the question asked at a recent new member’s orientation. The question silenced the room as more than one person seemed to think the same thing. Namely,...

I grew up in a Baptist church known locally for our rich musical tradition. There was a senior choir, a male chorus, a women’s choir, a youth choir, and a children’s...

It’s easy to overlook the fact that Jesus had to grow up. The Son of God who would become the Savior of the world, performing miracles and transforming hearts and minds...

Something was terribly wrong with the makeup of the traveling party. For Mary and Joseph, the festive occasion, focused travel, and familiar companions all conspired to prevent their recognition that “the...

One of the difficulties of hope is it can seem like an abstract, future occurrence. Today’s demands prevent far too many people from knowing the privilege of dreaming that far ahead....

Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests at Shiloh. They are synonymous with worship gone wrong. They commodified worship and used their authority to take advantage of women temple workers. When...

Facilitated by the priests, Israel’s sacrificial system of worship impacted how people conceived of God. The loss of trust in the leader of the system, caused by Eli’s corrupt sons, could...

O come, Emmanuel, and turn us toward Love. Whenever I read this song of Mary, I hear the musical setting of the Magnificat by Rory Cooney. The chorus of “The Canticle...

O come, Emmanuel, and illuminate the shadows in our hearts, in our world. Here in the northern hemisphere we have arrived at the winter solstice. After sunset tonight, we enter into the...