Day of Pentecost (Year 2, NL)

We might add to Paul's list gifts for offering comfort, or explaining new guidelines, or displaying ease with technology.

Brian Brock’s book is both academic and deeply personal.

Miracles can be hard work.

God is the encounter we can't control.

The thin cannot say to the fat, "I have no need of you."

The Spirit affirms our differences, speaking in ways that each of us can understand—yet also drawing us together.

Divisions mark our society—and our churches. What could possibly bring us together?

In the hours before the Passion, the Jesus who was hidden becomes revealed.

Jesus isn’t pitting himself against poor people. He’s one of them.

Theologian Deanna Thompson used to criticize the pervasive technological creep overtaking our lives. Then she was diagnosed with cancer.

Those who heard the disciples preach on Pentecost comprehended the message in their own language. But that was only the beginning.

In Acts comes Luke’s imaginative way to build upon ancient stories. The tongues of fire are no longer seen from afar on top of God’s mountain. And the multiplicity of languages becomes God’s vehicle for bringing salvation to the entire world.

Pentecost offers a vision for Europe: not one megastate or one system for everything, but a model of diversity as peace.

For several years, I directed the Center for Pastoral Excellence at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. The center hosts five initiatives that together address and support the long arc of ministry through a variety of resources and research projects. Its name--the Center for Pastoral Excellence--has been somewhat controversial.

We've been hearing for a while now about the "spiritual but not religious." There are all kinds of reasons why people might rather be spiritual than religious.

One is that the church has turned people off with its own mistakes.

Learning a language requires us to focus our attention on something outside ourselves. It's a lot like learning to pray.

In this week’s Gospel reading, many people praise Jesus’ teaching—until he claims that he is the fulfillment of the scripture he reads. It is difficult for American Christians to grasp how shocking Jesus’ announcement is to a first-century synagogue.

From Paul’s letter, we can infer that the Corinthians tended toward the same bias from which many of us suffer: the belief that there is little collective wisdom in the church.