When my life gets complicated (is it ever simple?) I tend to awaken sometime around 3 AM.  My thoughts begin, moving from personal things, to church matters, to unfinished business, to plans, to my children, to the last sermon I… Continue reading

May I borrow your faith?  A silly question to you, perhaps, but a story from Mark’s Gospel says otherwise.  Jesus went to Capernaum to teach and gathered a  standing room only crowd in the house where he was staying.  Four… Continue reading

He was angry.  His eyes narrowed and his voice rose as he told me how terrible I was, describing me as a liar, a cheat – and those were the nice things he said!  I knew that what he was… Continue reading

“He’s gone AWOL.”  The military term, meaning Absent Without Leave, is part of our language now. The short story of Jonah starts with this arresting sentence: “Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to… Continue reading

“I am so sorry.  I have bad news,” Bev’s physician announced to us as he entered the exam room.  We would like to have heard that she is healthy, that there are no complications.  But …  I have no simple… Continue reading

After death touched her family yet again, her grief turned to fury toward God. Martha was  not the first person, nor the last, in history to get angry at God over a broken heart! (John 11)  There is an echo… Continue reading

For many it is the end of the work week,  TGIF!  Weary, are you?  There are different kinds of tired.  There is the fatigue that we experience after a day of physical labor when we crave a hot shower and… Continue reading

Everyone of us has done things we hope never make it to the light of day.  Hurtful words, cruel acts, lust indulged, advantage taken, greed run rampant are just a few of those regrettable acts.  Over the years I have heard some… Continue reading

Remember the fable about a tortoise and a rabbit? It’s so improbable! Wearied by the rabbit’s constant boasting,  the turtle challenged him to a race.  What kind of race would this be? The quick rabbit and a short-legged, heavy-shelled turtle… Continue reading

At the edges of society there are radicals, those who are committed to change, who aim at provoking revolutionary transformation.  The ‘radical right’ aims to dismantle the social welfare structure; the ‘radical left’ uses the state to redistribute wealth. Most… Continue reading