I live along the Texas border, a setting that demands compassionate response to refugees fleeing violence, fear, and despair. Refugee is not a word people choose for themselves. Refugees flee circumstances...

Isaiah speaks from lived experience, a particular situation of emotional and physical vulnerability, a moment of anguish for the innocent. The prophet faces the violence of adversaries and describes what it’s...

More often than not, acceptance and receptivity are active practices. To receive joy requires more work than, say, opening up the mailbox to see if anything good has arrived. It requires...

This passage contains maybe one of the most useful but most underused commands of Jesus in the entire New Testament: “Leave her alone.” Judas Iscariot appears concerned about Mary’s use of...

Have you ever watched a pet dog or cat snooze on the couch? Periodically, the animal will haul herself up to her feet, clicky-clack or pitter-pat to the next room over,...

For the apostle Paul in this passage, losing everything was how he gained righteousness. He achieved perfection by letting go, by giving up. Everything he has gained, he lets go of...

Theories are well and good and deserve our attention, but they should never obscure the flesh and blood of human beings in front of us. The “other” stands before us and...

A path in the sea does not calm the waters. A way in the wilderness does not tame the beasts. Rivers appear in the desert, but the desert does not end....

Not all pain is meaningful, but all pain is redeemable. The pain we experience eventually appears hand-in-hand with joy. They are not strangers. They are not enemies. They are twins, born...

Often when exploring this parable, emphasis is placed on the lesson(s) learned by the younger son about the unending love of the father. Some interpretations focus on the actions of the...