The Syrophoenician Woman

The apostles thought she was a nuisance and asked Jesus to get rid of her.  Jesus had gone to the region of Tyre and Sidon, modern-day Lebanon, and a local woman approached him for a favor.  This was pagan country, home turf of the infamous Jezebel. ...

Hospitality

In an article from a few years ago, a Lutheran pastor in Colorado, Rob Moss, wrote that his church had decided to quit being welcoming. He said that “like so many congregations, we’ve sunk an amazing amount of time and energy into becoming a welcoming church. We...

“Child-Like Faith”

A few years ago, I was asked why we needed to study the Bible—in particular, why did we need to study the context of the passages, or what the passage might have said in its original Greek. Why couldn’t we just accept what it said, the way we did when we first read...

Love is…

I am fascinated by how 1 Corinthians 13 is used in Christian circles as a declaration of love and unity. It’s been read at most—if not all—of the weddings I’ve done over the decades. A lot of people feel cheated if it’s not read; in fact, many people believe that it’s...

Is God really in the details?

The origin of the quote “God is in the details” isn’t clear, but it has been attributed to various sources. Some believe it was first used by Gustave Flaubert, a French novelist who believed that perfection could only be achieved through meticulous attention to...