Ephesians

We are to work honestly, work with our hands, and work so that we can share with those in need.

As I watched Inside Out, I found myself thinking about Augustine's assertion that we are what we love and what we hate.

Perhaps it's only when we let go of who and what our loved one was that we can receive who they are now.

God has put "all things under his feet." Shouldn't we be worried about such a portrayal of absolute power? 

Growing in prayer is not simply acquiring a set of special spiritual skills. It is growing into Christian humanity.

I used to read Ephesians 4 and get that vague, warm glow we Mennonites feel when we see the word peace. Now the passage stops me cold.

The preacher faces several challenges in these Ascension texts. How can we present Jesus’ departure from the earth as an occasion for not sorrow but celebration? How to translate the kingship and hierarchical language into imagery that speaks to a world no longer governed by kings and monarchs?

Feminist biblical scholars note a third challenge: How can we counter Luke-Acts' use of the Ascension to exert a degree of social control?

The preacher faces several challenges in these Ascension texts. How can we present Jesus’ departure from the earth as an occasion for not sorrow but celebration? How to translate the kingship and hierarchical language into imagery that speaks to a world no longer governed by kings and monarchs?

Feminist biblical scholars note a third challenge: How can we counter Luke-Acts' use of the Ascension to exert a degree of social control?

The preacher faces several challenges in these Ascension texts. How can we present Jesus’ departure from the earth as an occasion for not sorrow but celebration? How to translate the kingship and hierarchical language into imagery that speaks to a world no longer governed by kings and monarchs?

Feminist biblical scholars note a third challenge: How can we counter Luke-Acts' use of the Ascension to exert a degree of social control?

National Organization for Marriage board chair John C. Eastman recently called adoption a “second-best option” for children. He was speaking to the Associated Press about Chief Justice John Robert’s position on the rights of same-sex couples: “Certainly adoption in families headed, like Chief Roberts’ family is, by a heterosexual couple, is by far the second-best option.”

The comment reveals less about adoptive families than about Eastman’s willingness to jettison religious tradition for political gain.

"Speak the truth in love," and "see that none of you repays evil for evil," exhorts St. Paul. Which is easier said than done.

What makes kindness a distinctive mark of the new creation?

What makes kindness a distinctive mark of the new creation?

Halloween's tradition of shadowy characters makes it as good a time as any to think on the reality of evil, sin and death that besets us.

The one who puts all things under his feet is doing something in the world.

Excellent Christian preaching names and explores the shadows in order to declare that the light shines in the darkness.

There are lots of ways to talk about the relationship between sports and religion.

The opening scene of Bull Durham comes to mind. As does the cultic quality of America’s obsession with football.

Sport as the center of personal and communal piety has a long history in many cultures, with the U.S. perhaps—to keep the competition motif alive here—winning the prize for the world’s most zealous devotees of the faith.

David stares at us out of a mirror and shows us our capacity for sinning.

Dhini didn’t ask to be adopted. That's the way grace works.

God's "consuming fire" is the fire of holy love. It doesn't await sinners in the future; it burns up sin itself.