We have seen the candid laying of distress before the Lord in this psalm of lament; but in the last two verses, the psalm’s mood changes entirely. The psalmist may be...

“How long, O Lord?” Four times in the first two verses the psalmist cries out in distress to the Lord. He is beset by enemies. He feels that God has forgotten...

Christian tradition tends to emphasize the role of Isaac in the story. It is notable that Isaac willingly goes with his father. Even when he notices that there is wood, fire,...

This story is one of the most meaningful and challenging stories in the Bible. It has been pondered by theologians, rabbis, pastors, and artists. Throughout this rich tradition, Jewish interpretations often...

If the beginning of today’s Gospel passage offers reassurance amid difficulty, the second half of the passage reads like the fine print on a contract. It reveals some difficult information: The...

Sometimes reading the lectionary feels like picking up someone else’s library book by mistake and finding familiar words but an unfamiliar story. This week’s Gospel lesson is like that, a chunk...

How do we experience resurrection in our earthly life? We often think of our eternal life beginning when our mortal life ends. But Paul’s words in Romans 6 call us to...

We refer to the writings of Paul as epistles—a literary form that uses a letter format. Paul’s epistles are meant as teaching tools to be read aloud in the early church....

When I read psalms I often try to imagine who the narrator is and why he or she composed the psalm. Sometimes I imagine the psalmist as a liturgist, rousing a...

If we pivot our focus in this passage from the history of Israel—the formation of the covenant family—to read it as a story about spiritual formation, the symbols and textures emerge...