My husband served in the navy for many years. After a deployment, the families would gather at the pier to welcome the ship and the sailors home. If the sailor for...

Our vision of God as judge, dispenser of punishment, often conflicts with our view of God as Father, dispensing grace with mercy new every morning. We often create God in our...

Many a parent has been driven to such a moment of recitation by a rebellious child. “I was there when you took your first step, threw your first ball, and played...

Prayer brings us into a close relationship with God. Our relationship with God is closer even than that of a friend whom we awaken at midnight for a favor. The friend...

Many of us have repeated the prayer Jesus taught so often that we have lost the sense of intimacy that the words convey. Familiarity breeds contempt, and we can easily allow...

There’s a story told of a lecturer who brings a see-through bucket to class one day. He proceeds to fill it with large rocks and then asks the students if they...

The whole body receives nourishment and grows through a life lived in intimate relationship with Christ. Three images within today’s passage illustrate our union with Christ. The first is of a...

God has forgiven, and God will forgive again. The psalmist recalls God’s past pardon and asks God to “restore us again,” to “show us your steadfast love.” God forgives but forgiveness...

Broken relationships affect all those around us, but God holds out the divine possibility of healing that brokenness. Relationships can be mended, intimacy restored. “The number of the people of Israel...

od calls Hosea to provide a lived-out parable of God’s relationship with the people of Israel. Hosea’s life dramatically illustrates an intimate relationship that is broken. The people of Israel have...