All Saints Day (Year A, RCL)

Sarah Ruden writes some of the most sumptuous words about Bible words I’ve ever read.

The preacher is still green! Maybe we'll hear something hopeful.

I don’t like this. When I mourn I want to not mourn anymore.

Two refreshing new books place the storyteller within the story he tells.

How is it that the poems of a 17th-century aristocrat still resonate with us?

“You, Lord, are both Lamb and Shepherd.” So begins “Christus Paradox,” a hymn penned by Sylvia Dunstan more than three decades ago. According to notes on the hymn text, Dunstan first scribbled down the lyrics--rich with paradoxical, tension-laden images of Jesus--while she rode the bus home after a difficult day of prison chaplaincy.

A shepherd’s staff has a crook for drawing the sheep away from danger, and a blunt end for prodding them toward places they would rather not go. This week’s texts embrace the tension between the two in the shepherd’s role.

Readers who found Pastrix to be a long, cool drink will find more refreshment here. Those who have tired of Nadia Bolz-Weber's cranky schtick will tire of it here as well.

To be a follower of the one who promised that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed is to expect a blessed in-breaking of peace.

Social microhistories can capture big ideas. I’d like to write one on pickles, which are as fundamental to civilization as anything in Chesterton’s pockets.

If you happen to read the Message translation of Matthew’s beatitudes, you’ll notice that instead of saying “blessed” the word is “happy.”

Not all endings are bad.

Elaine Pagels's book repeats a winning formula: contrast the canon's controversial parts with more appealing Gnostic selections.

Late in life, my mother confessed that she never enjoyed cooking. "But," she said, "I did take satisfaction in serving simple meals to my family." Well, there's no such thing as a simple meal anymore.

Each week my church includes a prayer for the families of American soldiers who have died. As the names are read, I try to hold them in prayer. But I have wrestled with these prayers.