‘Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.” These few verses have occasioned...

My friend Ben Cieslik recently sent me a link to the following site. It’s a place where people superimpose an old photograph of a beloved place or person over a new one to show how time has changed, the relationship matured, and life has moved on. I found it just beautiful and at times...

Then he went home; and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of...

Another video by Brene Brown, this time the follow-up to her earlier TEDTalk on vulnerability. After talking briefly about the personal repercussions of her previous Talk, she shares more of her research on shame. Shame is a powerful category in our lives and world that is, as she shows,...

Then he went home; and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of...

He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, and to have authority to cast out demons. So he appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave...

Jesus departed with his disciples to the lake, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him; hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon. He told his disciples to have a boat ready...

Dear God, You have called us to love, which sounds easy but is often hard. You have called us to obedience, which sounds hard but is sometimes easy. You have called us to obedient love, which sounds like an oxymoron, but really isn’t. You have called us to loving obedience, which sounds...

Some things are hard to give fit tribute to. No matter what we may say, it always seems to fall short. On those occasions, I’ve found that it can be better, actually to avoid “giving fit tribute” but instead approach the matter “sideways” by focusing on one concrete detail – of the...

Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come forward.” Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good...