Luke’s gospel opens with a portrait of community, with stories of Jesus’ extended family. Zechariah was a lay priest, working a trade or farming most weeks, but serving four weeks in the Jerusalem Temple. There were thousands of priests, so Zechariah might have served his whole life without ever getting the privilege of lighting the […]
Lewis, our firstborn, was 13 months old when we traveled to Nashville for the Conference’s big Youth Event: Warmth in Winter. On Saturday night Lewis’s temperature suddenly spiked and we rushed to the emergency room. With medicine, an IV, and reassurance we were admitted to Vanderbilt Children’s. The in-room crib looked like it could coral […]
If we were appointed a taskforce to write a holy book- I doubt we would write anything like the Bible. I imagine we might begin with a glossary defining terms like Adoration, Belief, Creator and Christ. We might list helpful practices, add some rules or commandments. Instead of creeds and rules, the Bible is full […]
“Blessed is she who believed what was spoken by the Lord!” It all begins with women. Have you noticed how the Bible’s two cornerstone stories, the Exodus and The Incarnation, begin with women? Exodus begins as Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, refuse to uphold Pharaoh’s diabolical plans. Then Moses’s mother and his sister, Miriam, hatch […]
Why do we feel such self-righteous anger when we believe we have been cheated? Why do deceptive numbers, undelivered promises, and broken vows stick to your memories or is that just me? Why is releasing our debtors so hard? As I prayed my way through today’s Scriptures, I remembered a boss during college, whose final […]
On the surface, the story of the Widow’s Mite appears so simple. A widow, amid utter poverty, gives everything she has to God. Jesus declares that she has given more than all those who gave from their abundance. It is a beautiful thing to give. Jesus often tells us “the measure you give will be […]
“What good deed must I do to have eternal life?” is the kind of question that church folks ask. Did you notice, Jesus does not answer with a creed or confession of faith? Jesus answers “if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” It is a little thing but, did you notice that […]
A few weeks after my father died, I steadied myself for the first Sunday back preaching. I did not want my grief to interrupt my sermon. My sermon went fine, but as I came to the Communion Table the ritual landed in a new way. I raised my arms and said, “And so, with your […]
Dear Belmonters, I spoke to a soldier last week who, like other federal workers, is working while not being paid because of the ongoing government shutdown. On Saturday, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will run out of funding leaving many people hungry. SNAP “provides food benefits to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget […]
Sometime in high school, feeling my adolescent bravado, I started calling my dad, “the cheapest man on the face of the earth”. I could tell a lot of stories to illustrate this, but when we ate out, and we rarely ate out, no matter where we ate out, dad slowly opened the check, shuttered, and […]
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