Alternate First Reading

Luke 8:32
Commentary on 1 Kings 19:1-4 [5-7] 8-15a

This chapter is well represented in the lectionary, and provides [...]

Galatians 5:25
Commentary on 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14

Elijah is one of only two people in the Old [...]

Luke 10:5
Commentary on 2 Kings 5:1-14

The story of the healing of Naaman is about entitlement, power, and pride. It is [...]

Luke 10:34
Commentary on Amos 7:7-17

Amos and Amaziah offer a cautionary tale for contemporary preachers. Delivering a word from the [...]

Genesis 18:6
Commentary on Amos 8:1-12

Amos was the earliest of the prophetic books, focused on the ultimate consequences of Israel’s [...]

Luke 11:10
Commentary on Hosea 1:2-10

In Hosea 1, God commands the prophet Hosea to marry a promiscuous woman named Gomer, [...]

Luke 12:18
Commentary on Hosea 11:1-11

Hosea 11 depicts God’s compassion for God’s people despite their rejection.   It offers a [...]

Luke 12:39
Commentary on Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

“Leaders of Sodom … People of Gomorrah!” (Isaiah 1:10): For [...]

Jeremiah 23:29
Commentary on Isaiah 5:1-7

In the Bible’s most famous collection of love poems, an exuberant lover declares, “I have [...]

Psalm 103:5
Commentary on Jeremiah 1:4-10

“Don’t judge me.” The first time I heard that phrase from my (then) 8-year-old daughter, [...]