How to face the reality of evil

Psalm 4:1-8 Individuals associated with the federal government have, in defiance of a court order and without a trial or any form of due process, deported hundreds of people from the territory of the United States to El Salvador, where they will be held indefinitely in a concentration camp.[1] That was American historian Timothy Snyder, …

Was Jesus the first ecumenist?

The term 'ecumenism' as we understand it today did not exist in the time of Jesus. Yet his teaching and actions demonstrate a strong desire for unity. Three key biblical texts indicate this desire for unity and cooperation among those who followed Jesus. The first is a command for his apprentices to love one another as …

Two ways to live

What is your experience of the Psalms in the Hebrew Bible? Take a moment to reflect on the following:  Which psalms most readily come to mind? What memories do you associate with those psalms? What people and places do you think of when you hear a psalm? What Christian hymns and songs extend the reach …

Regeneration, retreat, or decluttering? The many faces of Lent

Ask people what theyโ€™re doing for Lent, and youโ€™re likely to get a wide range of replies. Formally, Lent is a 40-day season in the Christian liturgical calendar intended to prepare the faithful to experience the ultimate meaning and resurrection joy of Easter. We take the word โ€œLentโ€ from the Anglo-Saxon lencten, meaning โ€œspring-time,โ€ which in the …

Even greater things

John 11:21-27; 14:12 Teaching, training apprentices, rebuking religious leaders. Healings, exorcisms, turning water into wine, calming a storm, feeding a crowd with five loaves and two fish. And then the biggest of all: raising a widowโ€™s son from death to life, and then raising Lazarus from the dead. Jesus was one of the most unusual, noteworthy …