While playing chess at a church retreat when I was sixteen, other youth stopped by to watch. We introduced ourselves, visited a few moments, and then continued our game as the...

I find no basis for an accusation against this man,” Pilate says. “I have found in him no ground for a sentence of death.” Pilate repeatedly refutes the crowd’s shouts to...

I didn’t want to do it. I convinced myself that I couldn’t.” Susan continues, “That’s how I felt when God nudged me toward work at the food bank. I said no....

Jesus says, “This is my body.” He does not explain or theologize. He only asks to be obeyed: “Do this in remembrance of me.” He tells the disciples it is “given...

I live along the Texas border, a setting that demands compassionate response to refugees fleeing violence, fear, and despair. Refugee is not a word people choose for themselves. Refugees flee circumstances...

Isaiah speaks from lived experience, a particular situation of emotional and physical vulnerability, a moment of anguish for the innocent. The prophet faces the violence of adversaries and describes what it’s...

More often than not, acceptance and receptivity are active practices. To receive joy requires more work than, say, opening up the mailbox to see if anything good has arrived. It requires...

This passage contains maybe one of the most useful but most underused commands of Jesus in the entire New Testament: “Leave her alone.” Judas Iscariot appears concerned about Mary’s use of...

Have you ever watched a pet dog or cat snooze on the couch? Periodically, the animal will haul herself up to her feet, clicky-clack or pitter-pat to the next room over,...

For the apostle Paul in this passage, losing everything was how he gained righteousness. He achieved perfection by letting go, by giving up. Everything he has gained, he lets go of...