For Florence Jordan, a White woman who grew up in early 20th-century Kentucky, Jesus was someone she learned about in Sunday School—the Son of God whom everyone she knew honored. But...

John’s Gospel opens with a proclamation that would have shocked any of its original audience: “We have seen [God’s] glory,” John says (1:14). But this is impossible! No one can see...

Lent’s practices of penance have parallels in the monastic vocation. Fasting, prayer, and almsgiving are ways of practicing the poverty, chastity, and obedience that monks and nuns take on as a...

The work of repentance can seem burdensome, but its true aim is joy. Martin Luther King, Jr. did not go to Montgomery, Alabama, to lead the civil rights movement. A graduate...

Shame is the feeling that comes from believing, whether we admit it or not, that we really aren’t worthy of love and respect from our family, our neighbors, our God. It’s...

The worst part about being a prophet, Jeremiah knew, was having to tell God’s people what they did not want to hear. The false prophets of his day—as in ours—loved to...

John 3:16 often appears on people’s foreheads at ballgames, on placards, bumper stickers, or in pamphlets left in public restrooms. To grow up in a Christian church means that you know,...

I once knew a young man who had been raised going to church and even attended a Christian elementary school. When invited to attend church with my husband and me, he...

What does it mean to “be dead in your transgressions and sin?” We know that we humans tend to live into patterns. Patterns are comfortable ways to avoid making decisions. We...

Growing up in the shadow of an over-achieving older sister, I tried to earn the love of my parents through my achievements and good behavior. I found areas to excel different...