In the second half of Zechariah’s speech following the birth of John, Zechariah turns to speak directly to his new son. In a prophetic declaration, Zechariah speaks about who John will...

Once on a spiritual retreat, our host tasked the group with an afternoon and evening of silence that would end after dinner. Following our meal I found myself more mindful of...

So what is power for? So far this week we have explored the way Jesus turns our idea of power on its head. We have seen what this upside-down power looks...

In this section of Colossians, Paul tells the believers at Colossae that Jesus was and is every bit as almighty as God; that he was there from the very beginning; and...

The third person to mock Jesus while on the cross is one of the criminals crucified beside him. To paraphrase, this criminal says, “Aren’t you supposed to be one with God?...

When reading scripture, I’ve learned to get curious when I pick up on a pattern. In this text from Luke, three different people say that if Jesus truly had the power...

The Israelites journeyed through many cycles of intense oppression from neighboring nations. Israel’s enslavement in Egypt, which lasted almost four hundred years, was only one experience of exile and oppression. Yet...

For many years I lived in Brooklyn, New York, and took the subway into Manhattan each day. It became second nature to step onto the train and mentally close off from...

Luke, writing roughly fifteen years after the Romans brutally slaughtered Jewish rebels and destroyed Jerusalem, is recalling Jesus’ prophetic words to his followers. Jesus knew his followers were facing immanent peril....

In Second Thessalonians, the author emphasizes the importance of community both to the early church as a whole and to the spiritual lives of the individuals within it. In fact, the...