“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” It is one of the most beloved promises in John’s Gospel. It is also one of the most easily misunderstood. Abundant life. The words sound generous, full, and inviting. And yet in a culture like ours, it is almost impossible to hear “abundance” without […]
In this week of the Presidential Inauguration, an interesting article from the Smithsonian Institute Magazine popped up in my feed entitled “A brief history of presidential inaugural speeches from George Washington to today” (Claire Jerry, published 1/14/2025). Being the history-minded person that I am I clicked on the link. The article cited the work of […]
Because very few of us regularly sit down and read entire books of the Bible from start to finish in one or just a few readings, we don’t often think about why the author of a particular book put a story where it is in the narrative. For example, Matthew says that Jesus’ first public […]