Scripture Reflection
Here I share the fruits of my personal reflection on the Word of God, whether I’m reading along with the lectionary readings for that week or exploring a particular book of the Bible. Enjoy the posts that appear below; you’ll find them with the most recent first. If you’re looking for something in particular, try typing a topic, book of the Bible, or other keyword into the search field at the bottom of the page. Topics I write about frequently include those listed below:
It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a crowd, due to COVID. I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like. Maybe that’s why it stands out to me as I read through the early chapters of Mark’s gospel: people are everywhere. Jostling, asking, listening, questioning, pleading for help. They crowd into Jesus’ house so he can’t eat in peace. They ...
“The word of the Lord was rare in those days” (1 Samuel 3:1). I feel like that sometimes. Lord, where are you? Why don’t you speak? I have so many needs… I need to hear from you! “The word of the Lord was rare” — that was in the early days of the prophet Samuel, when he was just a ...
Christmas preparations are looking very different for me this year. Normally, I’d be baking and planning parties and strolling with friends through winter-lit gardens. But I find myself staying home to avoid unsafe contact and searching out COVID test sites, investigating state travel restrictions and counting isolation days. Because what kind of Christmas will it be, if our boys can’t ...
“You be the lookout,” I told my little brother. “Yell the second you see the car!” My parents had gone for the day, leaving me in charge. And now we were scrambling to finish our chores and get the house in order before they returned, bringing our cousins with them. Only when the last thing was in its place and ...
The signs are everywhere right now: “Grateful”, the word spelled out in fancy type, embellished with flowers, sparkles, or even gold leaf. I almost hit one with my grocery cart this morning, rounding the corner past a woman who, like me, had left her Thanksgiving shopping to the last minute. “Grateful … hmmpf!” she said, nodding at the sign. “What ...
“Patience is a virtue . . . you get it from your kids.” “God give me patience . . . and I want it now!” We laugh about patience, joke about it even, but how many of us work at getting it? We treat it as though it’s something one is born with, and if we don’t have it – ...
"Desperate times call for desperate measures. Would you consider prayer a desperate measure?" I wasn't expecting that question at the start of this interview on "prayer in desperate times"! Ben Akers, who is Director of Formed at the Augustine Institute in Denver, invited me to talk on Formed Now! about how the Psalms teach us to pray when times are rough. The idea came from my little ...
“Hope in God.” “Have Faith.” “Hang in there — God’s got this!” For real? Are these phrases (which I hear so often now, with so much distress in the streets) — are these pious phrases just “opium for the masses,” as Karl Marx famously declared of religion? When I can’t get a break; when my child is sick and may ...
I’ve heard it said that the shofar (ram’s horn trumpet), with its curving shape, represents the way a repentant heart “bends” before the Lord in supplication. When it’s blown, it has a unique sound that can trumpet victory or a mournful wail. In the liturgy of Rosh Hashanah, today’s Jewish “Feast of Trumpets,” three types of blasts make up the ...
