ordinary time

We cannot return to a pre-calf existence when the fullness of God could be seen more clearly.

Jesus offers a stick in his listeners' eye.

Power always protects itself.

Matthew's story is terrible news. It is also the truth that will make us free.

When I was a kid growing up in the Willamette Valley, local teenagers and migrant laborers would go out together into the strawberry fields to help with the harvest. This parable, with its setting in the vineyard, describes the emotions of us workers—we wanted a fair wage for a fair day’s work.

Jesus knew forgiveness would always need special emphasis.

How do the blessed feel when they think of the damned?

The Hebrew midwives were poised to receive the future that God had promised.

Fear rules the emotions of Joseph’s brothers and strikes the hearts of Jesus’ disciples.

The first covenant holds forever.

One is not born a Christian; one becomes a Christian. This reminds me of my three-year-old friend Grace.

"Have you understood all this?" They said yes. God must still be laughing.

A mother and child wander in the unknown—that place where fears overtake us.

In my youth I thought: God asked what of Abraham? Is this the God who I am supposed to worship?

As Abram's heirs, we must know that our lives are not so much about choosing as they are about being called.

Genesis 18:1-15

Compared to cosmologists, theologians have the advantage—and disadvantage—of revelation.

The baptism of Jesus is Mark's Christmas story.