Last fall I traveled with a group of colleagues from the Mayo Clinic to Rome and Assisi in Italy. Since an order of Franciscan sisters along with the Mayo brothers co-founded...

What does it mean to “remember Jesus Christ” in this letter to Timothy? For the writer of the epistle, it means that though he may be held captive, the word of...

How do God’s people maintain faith and hope when confronted with divisions in their denominations and in congregations? Well-meaning Christians, purporting to defend the faith and the Giver of faith, draw...

United Methodist annual conferences often open with a hymn that asks whether the gathered have survived another year. Voices echo throughout auditoriums as clergy and laity affirm that the God who...

Few of us have been exiled to a foreign country, but we are surrounded by people who have. I previously lived in Minnesota, home to the largest Somali refugee population in...

Jeremiah writes to the leaders of a community in exile in Babylon. Though he is left behind, many others—religious and political leaders, artisans, and metal workers—are made to dwell in the...

My visit to a parishioner gave her the opportunity to show me her garden. It was luscious, vibrant, and full of scrumptious fruit and vegetables. She told me she sees herself...

When my friend and I finished a several-day hike on the Appalachian Trail, we were many miles from the nearest town. My father was to pick us up in the parking...

I was walking several miles every day until I caught a cold and felt miserable. After a week of the cold and a few more days of recovery, I started walking...

While hiking in the forest, I was startled by the cracking sound of a large tree as it began crashing toward the ground. I started to run out of its way,...