Not surprisingly, I have become very conscious of feet over the past two months. Losing the use of a foot, even temporarily, has made me acutely aware of exactly how important our feet are and how much abuse they take. They bear the weight of our entire body and all the physical activities of our […]
I’ve been thinking a lot about atonement lately. Atonement is a theological term that basically seeks to answer the question, “Why does Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection matter to us and to creation?” When you read theological writings about the subject, you can begin to wonder if it is all simply another discussion about how […]
As you might guess, I have had a lot of unoccupied time over the past five weeks of my medical leave. My foot wasn’t working right, but my brain was just fine. I did a lot of reading, and I watched a bunch of tv. In this world of the internet and streaming, this means […]
It is Maundy Thursday. During the season of Lent, we have walked with Jesus from his temptation in the wilderness, through healings, teaching, preaching, and many challenges to the established order. He has consistently and continuously challenged the power of the world—power over, violence, exclusion, hoarding of resources, dominance, and the like, and shown that […]
It is approximately 30 CE, though we wouldn’t call it that because we keep a different calendar. And who am I? I am Hannah. I am the wife of a blacksmith. We live just outside of the city of Jerusalem. I am fortunate. I have reached the age of 50. My what an ancient age […]
You will not find many Bible study groups doing a study of the Book of Ezekiel. The book is difficult and disturbing. The prophet acts in bizarre ways, and God is often cold and calculating. God commands Ezekiel to do strange things. The book of Ezekiel uses imagery and theological ideas that are often disturbing […]
A man who was born blind in a world in which there is little space for him, sits day by day in the public square begging for others’ leftovers so that he can survive. When others see him all they can see is his unseeing eyes and they feel afraid, for they know in their […]
The Gospel of John is full of symbolic imagery, the contrast between darkness and light being perhaps the most prominent image of all. Jesus is the light. Those who follow him live in the light. Those opposed to him live in darkness. We saw this in our Gospel reading from last week about Nicodemus who […]
So, John 3:16. What do you think of when you hear those words? I think of football games with people holding up big signs that can be picked up by the tv camera. I think of judgment. It makes me roll my eyes and squirm. “For God so loved the world that he gave his […]
Why do we give things up or take things on during the season of Lent? It is certainly not something that Jesus’ first followers did. There is some evidence that early Christians fasted forty hours between Good Friday and Easter, but the custom of spending forty days in prayer and self-denial did not arise until […]