1 Peter 2

Too many powerful people in public positions today refuse to repudiate the language of threat.

I think the women at the prison where I preach know what the psalmist knew.

I see love incarnate in suffering flesh, a body bearing a body in pain for love.

On Good Shepherd Sunday, it's tempting to wander there beside the still waters.

Acts 7:55–60; Psalm 31:1–5, 15–16; 1 Peter 2:2–10; John 14:1–14

In adapting my course for video, I had to learn to bridge the distance between me and students I couldn't imagine, let alone see.

In Jean Thompson’s novel The Year We Left Home, Anita extends an impulsive invitation to a mere acquaintance, Rhonda. Their lives have turned out very differently. Anita enjoys a contented home life with her husband and children, while Rhonda has endured an abusive boyfriend for far too long. So Anita invites Rhonda to her home, and says she can stay as long as she likes.

Driving home, Anita contemplates the implications of her sudden act of hospitality.

The recipients of 1 Peter lived far off the grid of Roman power. A people with no social standing, they were deemed unworthy of defending. And yet it is to these people that the letter proclaims lofty praise.