One of my favorite stories is Max Lucado’s You Are Special. It tells of the Wemmicks, uniquely created wooden people carved by Eli the woodworker. Every day the Wemmicks give one...

Psalm 1 calls us to love Torah, to love and live in “the law of the Lord.” Torah moves far beyond a mere book of rules. Only when we understand its...

In Luke 22:28-30, Jesus notes that the Twelve will rule over the “twelve tribes of Israel.” With the death of Judas, the “wholeness” of the Twelve is incomplete—eleven is one too...

Christians in the early church stressed the importance of Jesus’ ascension by including it in both the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. But churches today tend to gloss over Ascension Sunday. Sandwiched...

The author writes his epistle to believers who are trying to understand what eternal life means and how to live a holy life in the context of the Christian faith. These...

For many Christians the word evangelism evokes a sense of fear and dread. The word often conjures up visions of preachers on street corners with bullhorns or stacks of spiritual tracts...

Every night my daughter, Sarah, asks me to tuck her into bed and pray with her. She’s comforted to know that as the night comes, she’s safe and secure because I’m...

Sometimes I don’t understand Jesus. This is one of those times. I’ve wondered what his joy is that he not only wants in me but also desires to complete in me....

While yesterday’s epistle metaphor of parent and child is susceptible to a hierarchical power dynamic, today’s Gospel lesson portrays a mutuality of the divine-human relationship that is so nonhierarchical it’s mind-blowingly...

Today’s epistle lesson and tomorrow’s Gospel lesson describe the radical difference faith in Jesus Christ makes in who we become through him. Both offer antidotes to a religion of “oughts,” “musts,”...