Isaiah's words to the Israelite refugees in Babylon brings the comfort that in the midst of suffering, in the midst of tremendous loss, people and governments may change, what is…
This week, the United States military moved out of the way of Turkish militias invading Syria. This move left many of us feeling confused, as it didn't seem to fit…
Solomon and a worried mother show us what it looks like to create multiple winners from one encounter. It's easy to view the world as zero-sum, but the promise of…
Sometimes we miss the true, messy meaning of phrases because of code words. In Ruth, we encounter any number of double-entendres that can inspire a variety of readings. But the…
In a world where government policies are being enacted to encourage fear of outsiders and immigrants, we are reminded that we have always had strangers in our midst, whose very…
Compassion means "suffer with." How do we find compassion, rather than cruelty, when we have the power to do so?
We sometimes see Pharisees as needlessly attached to rules. But if we look around us at the debates in modern Christianity, we face the same challenges the Pharisees and Jesus…
In the darkness of ancient Israel, the Assyrians were on the horizon and the response of the powerful was to act out of fear, oppressing the weak, the poor, and…
James famously warns us that faith without faithful action is dead. In the preceding stories he tells, he makes clear that the highest virtue is mercy, and that leaving people…
What makes a place sacred? We tell stories to explain the importance of certain places in our lives. But we, too, have the ability to make places sacred, especially for…
Frozen follows a pattern for a good reason. We like to think we know how the stories end. It brings us comfort. But the writers of Frozen, understanding that, choose…