The day that will mark the birthday of the church has come, but no one knows what to expect. It will not begin with a gentle breeze but with a violent...

We are commissioned to be Jesus’ witnesses to the ends of the earth. That’s a tall order! Are we each to bring the gospel to far-off lands? More likely we are...

Since the sixteenth century, many scholars have called John 17:1-26 “the high priestly prayer.” Jesus prays to the Father for his disciples. The pathos in his plea is comforting as Jesus...

Jesus’ hosts in Emmaus realized their hearts had burned within them as they listened to Jesus open the scriptures to them. And Jesus opens the minds of his followers to understand...

Jesus speaks with authority. His followers fumble as they try to grasp his meaning. In that way, we are like Jesus’ first followers. Do our priorities indicate our ignorance? Jesus’ mission,...

We live in a time when it is often difficult to know what to believe. We all know people who have had a hard time accepting human testimony. An eighty-year-old woman...

Our reading describes the strength and fruitfulness of those whose “delight is in the law of the Lord.” I think of a group who visited my church in 2019 to share...

Our local multi-racial, interfaith, anti-poverty group trudged along trying to get the work done. Some of our task forces functioned well, but for months our board meetings were unproductive. Our chairperson...

Today’s text teaches us that as followers of Jesus, we are overcomers. This is pretty amazing since in this world there is so much difficulty to overcome. We face daily a...

In my younger years, I viewed the commands of God as burdensome. I thought of God’s law as an exhaustive list of spiritual “dos” and “don’ts,” of “shall nots” and “should...