Mystic and philosopher Simone Weil observed that our natural human impulse is to turn away from suffering, so we tend to blame the victim. Yet the writer of First Peter challenges...

In John 16, Jesus emboldens his disciples in his farewell speech by reassuring them with the promise of the Holy Spirit. Now in the seventeenth chapter, Jesus turns his eyes to...

In the Psalms, as in the Beatitudes, the righteous are promised joy. Yet we know from our own and others’ lives that such a promise is no formula. Godly people suffer,...

Earlier in this week, we noted that Paul preaches to the Athenians to help them understand that God is transcendently close. That’s good news. In this passage, Jesus is addressing his...

A year after taking a position as a seminary professor, I discovered the secret fame of one of my colleagues. For years, the hymn “Child of Blessing, Child of Promise” (umh,...

I was asked to lead the youth group in a lesson about Daniel, who persevered in the ways of God and faced the lions for it. Maybe Peter has Daniel in...

When God called me to be a preacher, God used Psalm 40. I was still in high school, and when I read the beginning verses about God leaning down and lifting...

My wife has been hospitalized twice recently with a respiratory infection that makes it hard for her to breathe. How glad I was this week when she reported how much better...

I had a disagreement with a theologian after a sermon I preached. This seminary professor questioned my use of the phrase “children of God” to refer to all human beings. “Through...

A basic tenet of the Christian faith is God’s transcendence. God is utterly different from creation, a truth attested in many great hymns like “Holy, Holy, Holy” and “Immortal, Invisible, God...