The world-bending words at the beginning of John’s Gospel announce the incarnation of God—Christ on earth walking in neighborhoods and the countryside. The Messiah among us, the Word become flesh—what could...

Paul lists famous gifts: wisdom, faith, knowledge, healing, miracle-working, prophecy, discernment, tongues, and interpretation of tongues. Apparently some of these gifts were disruptive enough that they needed calling out. Presumably other...

One time a tearful reader called with a question: “Do you think my Rudy is in heaven?” Rudy had died unexpectedly during routine surgery. Rudy was only eight years old. Rudy...

I can almost hear Paul sighing as he gazed upon the bickering scene at the Corinthian church and was forced to sort it out. Apparently some churchgoers were lording their gifts...

Gilead, Nineveh, Damascus, Beersheba, Galilee. The place names of the Bible echo back to Sunday-school childhood and thousands of years before that—names forged out of the mysterious encounter of human and...

“Providence”—the word has always drawn me in. It has a big inclusive embrace, a protective sweep. I also sense the word is out of favor these days. Maybe belief in luck...

The locale of Jesus’ first miracle is a party, a wedding, with wine at the center of the action. Scripture dares to place God’s abundance in a festive setting here, not...

My first grandchild was born recently. His name is Benjamin, making him the fifth living Benjamin on my side of the family and also the fifth-generation Benjamin on my side of...

Like all my companion authors for Disciplines 2022, I am writing during a year fraught with uncertainty. It will be the defining year for this current generation. The names we hear...

Another named storm headlines the news. Some years we’ve run out of letters from the English alphabet and have had to move on to the Greek alphabet. And those are only...