Will you imagine yourself inside Mark’s passage? It is evening. You are tired after a long day. The sun is setting, but the people keep coming. People are bringing friends who are sick or wrestling with inner demons to see you. The whole town crowds around the makeshift clinic’s door. You heal many who are […]
Author Archives: paulrpurdue
In our passage the Deuteronmist deadpans, “Now, you might be wondering, how will we know which word God hasn’t spoken?” Who speaks for God? Our mainline churches, seminaries, and denominational offices have given way to congregational authority. Progressives and traditionalists disagree about how to read scripture. Do the images of capital-storming, Bible-waving Christians shake our […]
“Now is the time!” Now is the time to believe the Good News. Now is the time to change our hearts and lives. Now is the time to follow Jesus the Christ. On Wednesday our national youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman’s words roused us into our “now”. When day comes, we step out of the […]
“Make no mistake,” Paul writes to the Galatians, “a person will harvest what they plant. Those who plant only for their own benefit will harvest devastation from their selfishness, but those who plant for the Spirit will reap eternal life. So let’s not get tired of doing good, because in time we’ll have a harvest […]
I am saddened and heartbroken, but not that surprised by the events today in our nation’s capital. Today, we see that heated words and silent complicity matter. Jesus warns us: “I tell you that people will have to answer on Judgment Day for every useless word they speak. By your words you will be either […]
When I was in elementary school, I took the three Magi and two camels from the porcelain Bethlehem Nativity scene atop of our living room piano and standing on a chair placed them on top of the china cabinet in our dining room. I dreamed that maybe the Magi followed the star all the way […]
2020 is perhaps the most challenging year for our city, our nation, or world, and our churches in a very long time. Our collective struggle and personal tribulations brought by Covid, isolation, deepening civil polarization, poverty, and systemic racism will not disappear at the stroke of midnight. Dr. Martin Luther King advises that “no social […]
After receiving the Ten Commandments, Moses says to the nation: “I set before you blessings and curses, Life and death. Now choose life, so that you and your descendants might live”. (Duet 30) Life emerges (as a blessing) when we as individuals and together in community adhere to the covenant. We do not enter the […]
After receiving the Ten Commandments, Moses says to the nation: “I set before you blessings and curses, Life and death. Now choose life, so that you and your descendants might live”. (Duet 30) Life emerges (as a blessing) when we as individuals and together in community adhere to the covenant. We do not enter the […]
We started English as a Second Language and after school tutoring at that church when a small group of educators wanted to connect with the town’s growing Hispanic community. There was some opposition. One dear saint suggested we check for green cards before offering ESL classes. When I asked if we would be checking everyone’s […]
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