The season of Advent takes us back to the time before Jesus was born. We imagine ourselves with Israel still waiting for the promised Messiah. There is hope but also lament....

At Advent time, we’re reminded of Mary’s role in the redemption of the world. She is the human through whom God the Son was birthed into the world. She is the...

The royal announcement of the gospel creates a new way of being in community together: a holy people. This holy people group is collected together not by ethnicity, economic status, gender,...

What does “gospel” even mean? Some think it has to do with going to heaven when you die. Others think it has do with being forgiven even though we don’t deserve...

In the midst of lament, Israel finds hope in the prophetic promise of a human being who is anointed by God to be a liberating leader. Israel’s national history is born...

Great loss turns our world upside down and sends us to the floor; to the basics; to cold, hard truths. What’s real? The loss Israel has experienced is exile—the loss of...

Advent is a season when we pay closer attention to the presence and absence of light. The days are shorter—light is more scarce—as we move closer to the winter solstice, after...

When we are impatient and restless, the counsel to be patient tends to evoke further impatience. Imagine James speaking these words to John through the prison cell bars (see Matthew 11:1-11)....

What was John to think when the messengers reported through the bars of his cell? Humanly speaking, he had to have wondered, What about me? There was no word of hope...

“Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me,” says Jesus to the delegation from John the Baptizer’s inner circle. Who would be offended at Jesus? It sounds odd to us....