This joyful pronouncement promises a time to come when all will rejoice before God, when oppression and war will end, when the anguish of darkness shall cease. God has promised us...

What drives us to split into groups, to drive others away because of differences real or imagined? Why do we wall ourselves off to other points of view except that of...

Light has come into the darkness. Hope has come into hopelessness. Healing has come to sickness—all through Jesus Christ. Jesus calls Simon and Andrew, James and John in this moment, but...

Paul understands his primary call to be that of proclamation. Paul’s conversion came in a flash of light, with Jesus himself speaking to Paul. The story involved visions, blindness, and healing....

They leave everything. That’s what strikes me. Peter and Andrew, James and John leave behind everything they’ve ever known—the boats and nets they employ to make a living, their families. They...

The states of confidence and doubt are jarringly juxtaposed in this psalm. How can the psalmist go from praise to impassioned pleas for a glimpse of God’s help? How often do...

God is like light, like a stronghold. Light, by its very nature, drives away the darkness and shows what has been hidden; it can do no less. A stronghold could be...

Imagine yourself to be Andrew. Already a follower of John the Baptist, you pay close attention when your spiritual master, John, proclaims Jesus to be the Lamb of God. You and...

John the Baptist’s ascetic practices of self-discipline and prayer distinguish him as one who sought union with God. His intimacy with God leads to his discernment of being chosen for a...

God often chooses “unworthy” people to fulfill holy tasks. Moses killed an Egyptian. A younger son in a minor Hebrew clan, Gideon lacked any social status. One of only four women...