Scripture: Psalm 119:42 – “Then I shall have an answer for those who taunt me, for I trust in your word.” (NRSVUE) We have this romanticized image of the past where everyone was united by their faith in the one God. We contrast this with the anger and division we see before us today, a time when it seems no one speaks the same language any more. But if you read the Bible, you will notice that this was never the case. There were always times when people were ridiculed or per

Scripture: Genesis 4:26 – “To Seth also a son was born, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to invoke the name of the Lord.” (NRSVUE) There are few things less interesting than other people’s family trees, especially if they involve ancestors you have never heard of. Unfortunately, there are lots of parts of the Bible that are long and meandering genealogies, the so-called “begats” that have thwarted many an attempt to read the Bible from cover to cover. But t

Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:12b – “But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day the deposit I have entrusted to him.” (NRSVUE) The other day, I was watching an interview with Yale Professor Teresa Morgan by C. J. Cornthwaite. The topic was how the meaning of the Greek word pistis, which we regularly translate as “faith”, shifted over the years. When we say “faith”, we often mean believing things that

Scripture: 1 Peter 4:6 – “For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does.” (NRSVUE) One thing I have noticed about mainline pastors like me is that we rarely talk about what happens to you after you die. We don’t put up billboards that say, “If you die tonight? Heaven or Hell”. I think we should focus on living the best and most loving life

Scripture: Psalm 68:5 – “Father of orphans and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.” (NRSVUE) Christians believe that God is almighty, omnipotent, and all powerful. God cannot lose. And sometimes, we just want to see God “taking names”. We want to see God claim unquestionable victory over all the forces that oppose us. Psalm 68 is a psalm of victory and lists all the ways in which God triumphs. It alludes to God’s role leading the people from slavery in Egyp

Scripture: Exodus 13:21 – “The Lord went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night.” (NRSVUE) As I Christian, I often focus on the power of the Gospel story. Jesus’ incarnation, wisdom, compassion, crucifixion, and resurrection are the guiding principles of my life, and assure me that transformation towards becoming the person God has called me

Scripture: Jeremiah 26:20 – “There was another man prophesying in the name of the Lord, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words exactly like those of Jeremiah.” (NRSVUE) Did you know that the prophet Jeremiah was a nepo baby? In the beginning of the Book of Jeremiah, when young Jeremiah is called by God to be a prophet, God says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecra

Scripture: Psalm 104:24 – “O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.” (NRSVUE) Why did God create the world in all its rich diversity? Was it all for our benefit as creatures made in God’s image and granted dominion over all plants and animals (Genesis 1:28)? Or does the world have a divine dignity all its own, created to be “very good” by God every step of the way (Genesis 1:31)? Or are things more complicat

Scripture: Judges 6:39 – “Then Gideon said to God, ‘Do not let your anger burn against me, but let me speak one more time; let me, please, make trial with the fleece just once more; let it be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew.’” (NRSVUE) The Bible is filled with truth and comfort, challenge and mercy, but sometimes it can get a little weird. One of the weirdest books is Judges, which is rarely read on Sunday mornings. I think this is because the

Scripture: Song of Solomon 8:6 – “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame.” (NRSVUE) I learned a new word today: antilegomena. It is applied to books from the Bible that people debated about including in the canon. We like to imagine an obvious distinction between canonical and non-canonical books, but the reality is that someone had to make a judgmen

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:25 – “For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” (NRSVUE) April Fools’ Day is more serious than you might think. There is, and should be, lots of silliness: fun, Dad jokes, harmless little gags. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is famous for their elaborate April Fools’ Day pranks or “hacks”, such as getting a police car on top of the Great Dome or tricking the world into thinkin

Scripture: Philippians 1:23-24 – “I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.” (NRSVUE) What is better: to be with Christ or to live for Christ? I am thinking of two answers to this question, and both are from outside the Bible. The first is the Rapture in Dispensationalist Christianity, the idea that before the horrors of the End Times, God will whisk the good

Scripture: Isaiah 60:18 – “Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.” (NRSVUE) What is the opposite of violence? When we see distant wars, mass shootings, and even the painful losses that no one ever seems to notice, how do we respond? One way, and perhaps the first way, is with a need for revenge. We long to revisit the pain we have felt upon others. If retali

Scripture: 1 Samuel 15:25 – “Now therefore, I pray, pardon my sin, and return with me, so that I may worship the Lord.” (NRSVUE) The Bible is a source of beauty and inspiration, a revelation that guides the life of the faithful. But there are certain problem passages that cause people to doubt that the Bible is perfectly divine rather than, as I like to say, an authentic experience of the divine recorded by imperfect people. Some of these passages are ones that are rejected

Scripture: John 8:7 – “When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’” (NRSVUE) One of the best-known stories in the Bible is the story of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery. Even people who have never picked up a Bible know this story. A group of scribes and Pharisees bring a woman caught in adultery before Jesus and ask him if they should stone her to death. It is

Scripture: Exodus 34:9 – “[Moses] said, ‘If now I have found favor in your sight, my Lord, I pray, let my Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.’” (NRSVUE) Mel Brooks is one of the greatest comedic filmmakers of all time, but I’ve always found his 1981 film, History of the World, Part I to be hit or miss, which makes sense as it is a series of sketches rather than a feature narrative. But

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 6:2b – “Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation!” (NRSVUE) Last night at our Book study, we finished reading Good Enough: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie. It is an anthology of devotionals on various topics related to grief, perspective, and self-acceptance. One of the devotionals towards the end of the book is “When Words Fail,” which is primarily about the importance of cr

Scripture: Exodus 6:9 – “Moses told this to the Israelites, but they would not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery.” (NRSVUE) One of the most significant moments in the entire Bible is when God is revealed to Moses in the burning bush in the Book of Exodus. God announces Moses’ mission to cry out to Pharaoh and to lead the Israelites from slavery to freedom in the Promised Land. God even reveals the divine name, which we render euphemisti

Scripture: Isaiah 29:13 – “The Lord said: Because these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote…” (NRSVUE) How do we know God’s will for us? I wish there was an easier answer to this question. Some will say because someone taught them about God – a Sunday School teacher, a minister, a parent or other family member. They were taught that God is love or t

Scripture: 1 Peter 3:9 – “Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse, but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called—that you might inherit a blessing.” (NRSVUE) We are living in very troubling times. The flashpoint in the United States are events unfolding in Minnesota, where Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed by ICE agents and, just yesterday, someone sprayed an unknown substance on Representative Ilhan Omar. But addition to strife