It’s easy in our darkest hour to despair. We rehearse the tribulations, trials, and troubles that bring us to the height of our pain. I suppose something helpful comes from telling...

A professor of mine once said that there are no bad questions, only bad answers. I used to believe that. However, as I write this meditation, election season has rolled round...

When Franklin D. Roosevelt looked over the crowd gathered to hear his first inaugural address in 1933, one emotion dominated the nation: fear. An unprecedented economic collapse, an agricultural disaster, and...

The first chapel service I attended while in seminary is a favorite memory of mine. My classmates and I filed into the sanctuary after our first morning of tackling New Testament...

The fact that we have a hymnbook in the center of our scriptures has always impressed me. That placement makes sense to me as a pastor. Poll any random sample of...

The priestly Sadducees are rich, educated, and serious. They reject the notion of the resurrection of the dead and view Jesus’ teachings on that subject as dangerous. In an attempt to...

I am uncomfortable with the idea of saints. Hearing the word saint conjures up images of serious-looking people dressed in robes with huge golden halos encircling their heads. Saints stand taller...

Ah, the “good old days”! How we miss them! In a rapidly changing world, nothing is more appealing than memories, real or imagined, of greater glory than what lies before us...

As Zacchaeus hurries down from his perch in the sycamore tree and welcomes Jesus to his house, everyone witnessing this scene starts murmuring. We can hear them now: “What kind of...

On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus encounters in Jericho a throng eager to see him, a familiar scene in Luke. Jesus also encounters a rich tax collector, also familiar. In the...