The Joseph story in the book of Genesis is one of my daughters’ favorite stories in the Bible. It’s perhaps my favorite, too. (Genesis, along with the Psalms, are frequently cited as the most frequently read books of the Bible.) Why? Probably for a number of reasons–e.g., it’s just great storytelling. (I once heard an […]
Read More “Everything is against me” (Or: Our hopelessness and God’s holiness)Songs come and go, but they mostly go. Some, however, stick (at least for me). I have gotten soooo much mileage out of Mo Leverett’s “Waiting.” I couldn’t find the lyrics online, so I’m not sure I’ve got them all exactly right… Verse 3 simply rocks. Lyrics:
Read More Songs that stickLuke 24 recounts how after Jesus’ crucifixion and burial some women (who had been following Jesus from early on in his ministry) go to his tomb early in the morning. Why? They had prepared spices and perfumes, and, having rested on the Sabbath, they are now taking these spices to the tomb to honor their Lord by […]
Read More The Bible is incredibly embarrassingIf you are wanting a concise and provocative “entrance ramp” onto recent debate on the idea of tolerance, you could not do much better than The Power of Tolerance: A Debate. As the title states, the book’s contents are a record of a 2008 debate in Berlin between two of the leading political philosophers in the Western world on […]
Read More A Primer on ToleranceWhen driving my 9-year-old (twin) daughters to school in the mornings, I will often discuss with them an aspect of God’s character. Regularly, we find ourselves returning to divine justice–specifically, to the idea of a future divine judgment. One day, Rosemary said, “I just love that idea. It frees me from having to worry about […]
Read More Three ways in which a future Day of Judgment brings freedom nowJust to follow up on one aspect of the previous post… I cannot think of a more palpable, concrete, visible measurement of our grasp of God’s mercy and grace toward us than this: how we respond to the sin and weakness of others. This is the genius of Jesus’ parable of the unmerciful servant: at one […]
Read More Postscript on ‘true forgiveness’: what do our impatience and refusal to forgive say?A number of posts ago we talked about true confession. I used the word “true,” because it is not uncommon for us to either make or receive half-baked confessions. When this happens, things usually get more confusing. I can remember a friend apologizing to me for some things that had been quite hurtful, and my […]
Read More What does true forgiveness look like?I’m good at cynicism. I’m also good at escapism. Oddly, I’m also good at triumphalism. I’m not good at lament. In the wisdom literature of ancient Israel’s Scriptures, authors boasted of the limitless might and shrewdness of Israel’s God: “Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere him. For […]
Read More What is lament?Consider the following question: “If I don’t really feel any need for Jesus in this life, if my life is actually pretty good and I don’t need Christianity (or, more generally, religion) to support me in any way (e.g., psychologically, socially, intellectually, etc.), why would I bother disrupting my life by becoming a follower of Jesus? […]
Read More Sorry, I just don’t feel a need for Jesus.Finding the right one is, for most singles I know, stupidly complex. I can remember as a single feeling as though I was one of a countless crowd of singles who were gathered on one side of a great canyon, and on the other side were the married people. And no one knew how persons […]
Read More Finding Mr. (or Mrs.) Right
Hope Unbroken 