I lived in California’s Mojave Desert before GPS and cell phones, and I often hosted friends who were novice hikers but eager to explore the rugged area. They occasionally ventured into...

I once saw a bumper sticker that read, “BE ALERT! THE WORLD NEEDS MORE LERTS.” Jesus tells his disciples not only to be alert but to stay alert until the end...

Paul addresses this first letter to the church in Corinth to the “saints.” He writes for the people who have been set apart as God’s people by their baptism. But when...

Jesus and the disciples are leaving Jerusalem after a long day of teaching in the Temple, when one of the disciples gushes about how awesome the stones and buildings are. Jesus...

Deuteronomy is written as a farewell address by Moses. For forty years he has led the Israelites around and around in the desert. Most of the folks who came out of...

Do you ever get distressed when others are praising God for the blessings they’ve received? Do you feel left out in the dark while others are in the sunshine of God’s...

The prophet speaking for and to the returned exiles pleads for God to blast their enemies. But that doesn’t happen. It is time for a sort-of confession. “But you were angry...

The Israelites experience God not as an abstract set of attributes but through stories of saving power. Yes, God is described as holy, powerful, just, steadfast in love. But mostly God...

We have been walking through some tenuous scriptural ground this week, grappling with hell and judgment, salvation and righteousness, empire and God’s kingdom. It is no easy terrain, no simple way...

One of the gifts the Jewish tradition offers is the practice of midrash, a way of reading a biblical text with a question mark instead of a period. The practice of...