Anger. Being mad. Being sharp with others. Annoyed. Chronically displeased. Fuming. Exasperated. Furious. We know these emotions.  We know how heat can build in our relationships with others until one day, the pot goes from a slow simmer to a roiling boil like when we forget and leave a pot to explode rice or… [Read More]

Bart Ehrman, a New Testament scholar, became an agnostic.  His spiritual journey, as with many of us, is rather complicated, yet thoughtfully undertaken.  He eventually became an agnostic (one who doesn’t affirm or disbelieve the existence of God) because of the problem of suffering.  He did not feel that he could satisfactorily reconcile what he… [Read More]

While I was growing up, a small woods stretched from our backyard to the parking lot of the clothing factory which jutted against the railroad tracks.  The woods existed for several years until one day, when contractors demolished it to make way for a new housing development.  In the days of the woods, there was… [Read More]

It started out as a hike, six days after Jesus has told his disciples that the Son of Man will suffer greatly, be rejected, and killed.  When Peter says “no, no, this won’t happen to you,” Jesus rebukes him.   Six days later, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up the mountain, and not just any… [Read More]

Eleanor Oliphant is a thirty year old woman possessed with a demon.  Oh, we would not likely call it that in a 21st century manner of speaking, but she is definitely possessed in the way of 1st century religious terms.  She is possessed by her traumatic past and possessed by a horror that she could… [Read More]

You may remember the poet, John Milton, vaguely from your past schooldays:  one of the greatest English poets, second only, some say, to Shakespeare.  Milton wrote Paradise Lost, among other things.  He was a defender of Oliver Cromwell who challenged and defeated the monarchy during the reign of Charles I.  Milton was critical of bishops. … [Read More]

Reader’s Digest recently published a list of warning labels that may seem more than a little obvious at first glance.  On a carpenter’s drill, there was the warning, “This product not intended to be used as a dental drill.”  For an iron-on shirt pattern, “Do not iron while wearing shirt.”  On a razor scooter, there… [Read More]

You may not remember Nathanael from the bible.  You might not remember that he was a friend of Philip’s from Bethsaida, which I can’t help reading as “Bethesda.”  You might not remember this passage from the gospel of John where Jesus calls both Philip and Nathanael to his mission and ministry. An excited Philip runs… [Read More]

This past week, I found myself writing letters.  You know, the old-fashioned kind…  Snail mail.  One letter was sent off to Norway, another to a pen-friend in Corpus Christi, TX, and a third to a more local friend.  Each time, I found myself writing how the season after Christmas always makes me feel optimistic. I… [Read More]

Merry Christmas! We are just a week from Christmas Eve and halfway through the twelve days of Christmas, but our lectionary reading puts us ahead at least 40 days from Jesus’ birth. St. Luke tells us that eight days after Jesus was born he was circumcised, and then according to the Levitical law, Mary needed… [Read More]