Saturday, October 27, 2018 | Reflections
This parable has much to teach us about what constitutes hospitality, social obligation, and honor. Even if it is not because of friendship but rather self-interest, the neighbor ultimately responds to his needful friend’s relentless request.When my friend of longest...
Friday, October 26, 2018 | Reflections
When Susan Boyle took the stage on the competition “Britain’s Got Talent” several years ago, many rolled their eyes, and some snickered. Even one of the judges did not hide his doubtful expression. The woman at the microphone was forty-eight years old, with frizzy...
Thursday, October 25, 2018 | Reflections
As a child, my neighbors were mostly folks who were African-American and Protestant, just like me. I now live in a neighborhood full of various ethnicities and faiths. My understanding of who my neighbors are has changed.The lawyer who challenges Jesus before the...
Wednesday, October 24, 2018 | Reflections
“Wait until we get home,” my mother would say when I misbehaved in public. Once we arrived at the house, a prolonged silence often preceded punishment. The tension of those silences was worse than the actual punishments.God is always trying to get our attention and...
Tuesday, October 23, 2018 | Reflections
Few fictional characters so fully embody wickedness, sin, and scorn as that of Screwtape in C.S. Lewis’s classic The Screwtape Letters. Screwtape mentors his nephew in securing the damnation of a British man, known only as “the Patient.” Screwtapes are everywhere,...
Monday, October 22, 2018 | Reflections
Ben Sira writes Ecclesiasticus at a time when many Jews are becoming aware of Hellenic (Greek) culture but are still committed to their Jewish roots, including the study of Torah. Ben Sira is particularly concerned about young people, who seem attracted to the Greek...
Sunday, October 21, 2018 | Reflections
James and John want a piece of the glory Jesus will attain. They eagerly affirm willingness to endure the suffering and death awaiting Jesus, but without understanding that “the cup” and “the baptism” Jesus speaks of are the inevitable and necessary steps preceding...
Saturday, October 20, 2018 | Reflections
There is a cinematic quality to this episode in Acts, with Paul expounding day and night before large numbers of Jewish elders, trying to persuade them to accept Christ. Much like in the parable of the sower, a portion of the seed Paul disperses to his listeners falls...
Friday, October 19, 2018 | Reflections
When Jesus prays, momentous things occur. After Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit descends on him while he prays (Luke 3:21-22); Jesus selects the twelve apostles after an entire night spent in prayer (6:12-16); and Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah takes place...
Thursday, October 18, 2018 | Reflections
My doctor and I are not friends, but we need each other. I need her care to maintain good health, and she needs me to support her practice. I do not know whether my doctor is a person of faith, but she is a member of God’s community of healers.Many scholars believe...
Wednesday, October 17, 2018 | Reflections
The man and woman knocking on my door were extremely polite. They seemed nonthreatening, so I invited them in. Seated at my dining table, they spread out their colorful and well-designed literature about the Bible and Jesus Christ. We were Christians with differing...
Tuesday, October 16, 2018 | Reflections
I can barely read or listen to the news these days. Why does God seem to be missing in action? The poor keep taking it on the chin, but God seems far away and out of earshot of the cries.And then I remember that in the sweep of human history and in my own life, evil...
Monday, October 15, 2018 | Reflections
He was filthy. One shoeless foot was blackened and thickly callused. He barked incoherent utterances. A woman exiting the train gave him an unopened bag of chips. “Thank you, and God bless you,” he said. For a moment, this subway demoniac was “made whole.”Demons cause...
Sunday, October 14, 2018 | Reflections
Do we own our possessions or do they own us?Contrasted with his other calls to discipleship where Jesus simply says, “Come after me,” or “Follow me,” his call to the rich man to give up his wealth shocks us as much as it shocks the rich man. For two cultures where...
Saturday, October 13, 2018 | Reflections
We tend to forget that we are dust, mere mortals, puffs of wind, and passing shadows. For all of our grand plans and mighty deeds, each of us is, in the words of Macbeth, “a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.” Or are...
