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Paul’s pithy saying that “suffering produces endurance” (Romans 5:3) encapsulates the human intuition that suffering is meant to have a purpose. We could think of Paul’s verse as an anticipation of the contemporary “What doesn’t (...)

I hear daily, both in person and in the media, about people’s heartache over the current divisions in American society. According to recent polling, societal division is alternating with economic distress for the top concern (...)

Like many who preach the lectionary calendar, I’ve encountered the beginning story of the ancestral Israelite peoples many times. I’ve used this text to speak to seminarians as they leave their familiar thinking and surroundings (...)

Paul has just set out a series of imperatives for faithful life in the world (Romans 13:1–10), centered on the Christ-follower’s relationship to governmental authorities, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the (...)

As part of the climax of Paul’s letter to the Romans (14:1–15:13), the message of this section is as difficult as it is important. Its importance lies in the priority it assigns to harmonious relationships (...)

These December days are a time of pretty lights and pine trees, Christmas cookies and carols. So the gospel comes as a shock: “You brood of vipers!” John the Baptist says (Matthew 3:7). Harsh words. (...)

Today’s epistle reading, 1 Timothy 1:12–17, is a thanksgiving section within the letter’s opening—a common feature in the Pauline letters. Yet, rather than thank God “for what God has done through Christ in and for (...)

Romans 5:1–11 is a transitional passage from the fatherhood of Abraham (4:1–25), which we share with the Jewish people, to the progenitor Adam, whom we share with all humanity (5:12–21). The mention of boasting in (...)

Today is Pentecost Sunday. In our liturgical calendar, we commemorate the outpouring of the Spirit of God at the start of the Christian church. The event is canonized in Acts as an onrush of mighty (...)

“Remember how he told you?” the youth in dazzling clothing says to the women gathered in the soft dawn light at the empty tomb (verse 6). The women, perplexed and terrified, do remember. They draw (...)