Israel’s royal editors helped shape the double volumes of Samuel and Kings. We see this in 1 Kings 15:23 along with words about King Asa’s foot disease. These histories of Israel’s prophets and kings begin with Hannah. (Full Stop)  In Hebrew, “Hannah” means favor or grace. Hannah Grace launches a resurgent prophetic movement, not just […]

Struggling with the Scriptures, some thirty years ago I found myself in a crisis of faith, or was it an awakening to faith? As we looked for a new church, Connie needled me to “just visit” a Methodist church. I quipped, “We will go; I’ll hate it, and that will be that!” Spiritual growth takes […]

A few weeks ago, I camped out on the farm my grandparents purchased a hundred years ago. I awoke before daylight. Overnight, a heavy dew had settled over everything. As I stuck my head out of the rainfly, dew pooled on the flap and baptized the back of my neck. A ghostly fog rose from […]

Mark begins, “Jesus continued down the road.” Faith is a journey. God calls Abram and Sarah “to go to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12) God calls Moses “to go down into Pharaoh’s land,” face down a superpower, and liberate a people. Jesus traveled from town to town healing people and proclaiming […]

Isn’t the loaf of bread that we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one loaf of bread, we who are many are one body, because we all share the one loaf of bread. (1 Corinthians 10) Growing up Southern Baptist, I sat in on about 502 masses during my four […]

The book of Esther may need a trigger warning. So be advised that Esther includes unexamined cultural practices and systemic injustices that include sexism, gender stereo-typing, sexual harassment, slavery, concscription, racism, and violence. I worry about telling this story, but Esther is in our Scriptures, one of three books with a female lead character, and […]

Wisdom shouts in the street; in the public square She raises Her voice.  Above the noisy crowd, She calls out.  At the entrances of the city gates, (where the Patriarchs pontificate) God speaks. She says: “How long will you clueless people love your naïveté, mocking insight and hating knowledge?” Look, God speaks, She says: “I’ll […]

Many Thursdays during seminary, I enjoyed a beautiful homemade Indian meal with Pramod and Ranjana in their tiny seminary village apartment. Each meal culminated in cups of lush Indian tea, artfully prepared in a large second hand pot. Ranjana carefully stirred in sugar and cream, never asking us how we liked it, but crafting a […]

Last summer, I found myself in a fast-food drive through line 5 minutes before opening. Lacking coffee, I struggled to navigate the orange cones and contradictory signage. The car behind me honked. Fast is in the name, fast-food, and deep in our expectations. At five minutes after 6, a yellow vested teenager started moving the […]

As Jesus and the disciples practiced weekly sabbath, they worshipped alongside a person with a paralyzed hand. Now because of the paralyzed hand, the person was only half welcomed at church. They could attend, but not lead worship; this was true for women, blind people, and many others. (Leviticus 21) The religious leaders watched Jesus […]