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:
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 ...
Read the full post ...
Read the full post ...
“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 ...
Read the full post ...
Read the full post ...
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 ...
Read the full post ...
Read the full post ...
“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 – ...
Read the full post ...
Read the full post ...
"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 ...
Read the full post ...
Read the full post ...
“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 ...
Read the full post ...
Read the full post ...
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 ...
Read the full post ...
Read the full post ...
Sometimes there's not enough of me to go around. The kids need help. A loved one dies. The dryer breaks, or the car. Taxes are due and a deadline zooms and no, I can’t possibly help you today. My own needs are too great … I’m stretched as far as I can go. Sometimes there's not enough of me for ...
Read the full post ...
Read the full post ...
I sat on the bed while my Great-Grandma braided her waist-length, snowy white hair and piled it like a crown on her head. She turned to me, twinkling: “Now what does today have in store for us?” Later, as we talked, she turned and patted my knee. “It’s so nice to be with someone my own age!” That’s my last living ...
Read the full post ...
Read the full post ...
